


Fire Lord Zuko Goes To School

by BookLoverL



Series: Fire Lord Zuko: Undercover Boss [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Background Maiko, Canon-Typical Violence, Education Policy, Fire Lord Zuko, Friendship, Gen, Identity Reveal, Ignores Comics, King Incognito, Post-Canon, Post-Season/Series 03, School, Secret Identity, Treachery, Undercover Boss, Zuko is an absolute monarch and he actually uses his authority for stuff, seriously there are a lot of OCs here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2020-02-09 21:27:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 28,347
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18646429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BookLoverL/pseuds/BookLoverL
Summary: It's a few months after Zuko took the throne, and, now that things are settling down in the palace, and the retreat from the colonies is going well, Zuko decides it's time to take a look at the Fire Nation's education policy. The best way to do this? It's clearly to disguise himself as a normal student and enrol himself in a school for a few weeks.What will he learn about the state of the Fire Nation? And will he get through the few weeks without blowing his cover?





	Fire Lord Zuko Goes To School

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is canon to A:tLA, but ignores the comics.

It was a few months after the end of the war, and everything was finally starting to come together. Zuko was engaged to Mai. He had finally managed to root out all the Ozai loyalists from his council and advisors, and the peace process and the retreat and gradual deconstruction of the army were going well. Plus, the Fire Nation were starting to get used to the idea of having Zuko as their Fire Lord. He’d changed the most outrageously unjust laws, like the ones that said people could be executed without his direct order for really petty things, the ones which were causing people immediate suffering. Finally, he was going to be able to stop – hah – putting out fires, and start the real work of restoring the country to a mindset appropriate for peace. The problem was, Zuko wasn’t sure where to start.

 

He threw his hands up in frustration as he paced around his study. The whole situation was so complicated. Aang had told him – at great length – all about what the Fire Nation had been like a hundred years ago, but the people were different now, and change needed to be approached carefully, whatever the Avatar said. And it wasn’t as if there was one single issue that he could fix and then everything would be all, “Ta da! Healthy culture!” The whole nation was baked in Sozin, Azulon and Ozai’s warlike attitudes, right from when they were children.

 

Wait, children. That was it. He should start by fixing the education policy! Even now, he knew, there were children in classrooms all over the country learning… spirits knew what. Actually, that was kind of important, Zuko thought. What was it that his people were learning?

 

Frowning, he motioned to a servant and asked them to summon Councillor Jiu, who, amongst other things, was appointed to advise him on education. Jiu had served under his father, but had shown himself to be trustworthy in the months since Zuko had been crowned.

 

“Councillor Jiu,” Zuko said after Jiu had arrived and prostrated himself, “please rise.”

 

“Fire Lord Zuko,” said Jiu, getting to his feet. “My lord, how may I be of service?”

 

“What’s the curriculum right now in schools for ordinary citizens?” Zuko asked. “I want to change our education policy to be more suitable for the new times.”

 

“My lord, if you would permit me to return to my own study, I will bring you the scrolls with the curriculum,” said Jiu. “The overview is: the children learn etiquette, mathematics, writing, firebending or other martial arts, depending on if they can bend, history and geography, and music. And of course, at the beginning of the day, they make a pledge of loyalty to yourself, my lord.”

 

Zuko fought the urge to rub his brow. The weight of the crown in his topknot felt suddenly heavy. “This would be the same version of history taught under Fire Lord Ozai?” he asked.

 

“Yes, Fire Lord Zuko,” said Jiu.

 

“And the pledge of loyalty? How does it go?” he asked.

 

“My life I give to my country. With my hands I fight for Fire Lord Zuko and our forefathers before him. With my mind I seek ways to better my country. And with my feet may our March of Civilization continue,” recited Jiu. “It was ordered to be changed from Fire Lord Ozai to Fire Lord Zuko when you ascended to the throne, of course, my lord.”

 

“Right, of course,” said Zuko. He sat for a moment, thinking about how to make it better. Really, he knew, he should send for somebody with skill at poetry, but he decided to keep the changes simple for now. “I’m making a proclamation to change that pledge immediately, Jiu. Uh, the new pledge should be: My life I lead for myself and my country. With my hands I create for Fire Lord Zuko and our forefathers before him. With my mind I seek ways to better myself and my country. And with my feet may I walk in peace through the world.” He quickly scribbled the new pledge on some parchment, sealed it with his seal, and then handed the scroll to Jiu. “Make sure word of this reaches all the schoolmasters in the Fire Nation.”

 

“It will be done right away, my lord,” said Jiu.

 

“Now, about the curriculum,” said Zuko.

 

“My lord?” asked Jiu.

 

“I’m immediately removing any suggestion in schools that the Fire Nation is superior to other nations,” said Zuko. He wrote and sealed an additional note and handed it to Jiu. “Aside from that… I think I need to, ah, familiarise myself with the curriculum in person.”

 

“Familiarise yourself with the curriculum, Fire Lord Zuko?” asked Jiu. “Would you like me to fetch the relevant scrolls, my lord?”

 

“Yes, Councillor Jiu,” said Zuko. “And also – and you are _not_ to tell anyone about this part – please give me some names of schools that might be due for a surprise inspection. I’m going to make a trip.”

 

-

 

A week later, and Zuko was ready to enact his plan. He’d slowly and painfully read through the entire curriculum, and had made arrangements to have a several-weeks-long leave of absence from the palace. He would be leaving Mai in charge of the council in his absence, and aside from a single trusted guard who would be accompanying him, Mai was the only one who knew of his real intentions for the trip. The rest of the council thought that he’d be taking a well-earned break in an undisclosed location.

 

His plan was this: in order to truly see the effect the curriculum was having on the Fire Nation’s children, he needed to get an inside view of the situation. So, being still only 17, and therefore technically within the age range for school, he was going to attend a school himself. In disguise.

 

It would only be for a couple of weeks, of course. Just long enough to learn what he needed to learn. There were things to be done in the capital that would miss him if he were away too long.

 

He summoned the guard he’d chosen, Captain Meelon, who was middle-aged and slightly balding, and also highly competent.

 

“I’m ready to depart, Captain,” said Zuko.

 

“Very good, Fire Lord Zuko,” said Meelon. “You’re sure, my lord, that you have everything you need for the journey?”

 

“Of course I have everything!” said Zuko. “I’ve only been planning this for a week.”

  
“My apologies, my lord,” said Meelon. “I didn’t mean to question your planning skills.”

 

“Sorry, Captain,” said Zuko, pinching his nose. “It’s good for you to question me sometimes, if we’re in private. It’s just that Mai already asked me that several times today.”

 

“Understood, my lord,” said Meelon.

 

“Anyway,” said Zuko. “Let’s go, Captain.”

 

“Certainly, Fire Lord Zuko,” said Meelon.

 

Once the pair were safely in the carriage that would take them to the school he’d selected, Zuko explained the plan in more detail to Meelon. Zuko himself would be enrolling as a student in the Eastern Fire Academy, a school in a relatively normal town that was three days’ journey from the capital, under the name of Lee. He would be able to disguise himself easily, as there had been no official portrait yet, so people in a town that far out wouldn’t know what he was supposed to look like.

 

Meelon would be playing the role of Zuko’s father, a military bureaucrat recently returned from the war, under the name of Minzu. Zuko didn’t actually expect that Meelon would need to do much, except for going with him to purchase a uniform, and coming in for a meeting or two with the headmaster, but it would also mean that he had an additional ally in the town if anything went wrong. And if his travels had taught him anything, it was that something always went wrong, and when it did, it was good to have friends.

 

Zuko had brought his royal seal with him, which he planned to keep hidden on his person the whole time, just in case. He’d also brought the Fire Lord crown and some suitable formal sets of robes, though they weren’t the full formal ones he wore to preside over things at the palace. To travel, though, and for walking around town, he’d acquired several sets of clothes which made him look reasonably well-off, but not noble. Meelon had orders to keep the Fire Lord garb locked in a chest in the house they would be staying in, so that nobody would find it.

 

By the time the pair arrived in the town, they had their cover stories completely straight. The plan was set.

First, they headed to the house – an unused house that belonged to Zuko’s family, but which nobody except the loyal middle-aged housekeeper had visited since Zuko was a baby. Zuko knocked on the door, and waited until it opened.

 

“F-” the housekeeper, Ruji, started to say, her eyes wide with recognition, before Zuko put his hand over her mouth and stepped into the house. Meelon closed the door behind them.

 

“Shh,” said Zuko. “I’m here unofficially. Do _not_ tell anyone I am here, or there will be consequences.” Then he let go.

 

“Sorry, my lord!” whispered Ruji. “I just wasn’t expecting you, is all. I’ll make up the royal chambers for you right away! And nobody will hear of your presence from me.”

 

“Good,” said Zuko. “This is Captain Meelon, my guard. But until I say so, outside of here or if anyone asks, I’m Lee and that’s my father Minzu, you are my aunt, and we just moved here to live with you from the other side of the Fire Nation. You understand, Ruji?”

 

“Yes, my lord – I mean, Lee,” said Ruji. “Er, may I ask why you’re here?”

 

“I decided to give some parts of the Nation a surprise inspection,” said Zuko. “I’m going to be enrolling in the local school for a few weeks.”

 

“Surprise inspection, right,” said Ruji. “Very wise, ah, Lee. I guess you’ll see more of the Nation that way.”

 

“Tell no-one,” said Zuko, looking at her seriously.

 

“You have my word,” said Ruji.

 

After they’d unpacked the carriage, Zuko went out with Meelon to get himself enrolled in the school. The headmaster was surprisingly keen to meet with them, which Zuko supposed was to do with the relatively rich clothes he’d chosen to dress them in. The man was probably hoping for donations to the school budget. Well, he would have to see about that.

  
“Ah, come in, come in!” said the headmaster, who was an old man a bit on the larger side, with white hair and a big mustache. “My name is Headmaster Yuon. You’ve come to enrol your son in the school, sir? You’ve made a fine choice!”

 

“That’s right, we’d like to enrol,” said Meelon. “My name is Minzu, and this is my son Lee. We’ve just moved here from over on the western shores, and my sister recommended this place to us.”

 

“Very good, very good,” said Yuon. “Young man,” he said, addressing Zuko, eyeing his scar slightly warily, “you understand that here at Eastern Fire Academy, we value strength and discipline. We expect a lot from our pupils. Do you think you can live up to that?”

 

“Yes, Headmaster Yuon, sir,” said Zuko, doing his best to sound like how people usually sounded when talking to him. That was one bonus of doing this. At least people wouldn’t be worrying what they said to him and prostrating to him everywhere he went.

 

“Excellent!” said Yuon. “I knew your son looked like one who caught on quick. You can pay the termly fee, I trust?”

 

Meelon handed over the modest amount that paid for a term’s education from the purse Zuko had given him specifically for that purpose.

 

“And is Lee a firebender?” said Yuon.

 

“Yes, he is,” said Meelon, in agreement with what Zuko had told him to say.

 

“Very good!” said Yuon. “Now, onto the schedule!”

 

They spent another half an hour in the meeting, by which time Zuko knew everything there was to know about when to turn up, what lessons he could expect when, and all the other things like that. Finally, Yuon gave them an address to purchase uniforms from, and let them leave, with instructions to turn up the next day for Lee’s first day of school. The pair went by the uniform shop and purchased enough sets of uniform to cover the full two week period with a sensible number of washes. Then they went to a stationery shop to buy parchment, quills, and ink, and finally, they headed back to the house.

 

“All successful, my lord?” asked Ruji.

 

“Yeah, it went great,” Zuko told her. “Now, I’m going to bed.”

 

-

 

Zuko turned up bright and early to school the next morning, his uniform laundered to perfection. It wouldn’t do to make a bad impression on his first day, if he could help it. Yuon personally escorted him from reception to his classroom, and introduced him to his new class and teacher, who were waiting in silence before the morning pledge.

 

“This is Lee, a transfer student from the western coast,” said Yuon. “Lee, this is your teacher, Mrs Fu.” Zuko bowed to her, and then to the class, taking care to get the depth right.

“Lee, you can sit over there, next to Tian,” said Fu, who looked around her mid-thirties and had a shock of short, messy, black hair, pointing at an empty desk with a long, thin stick.

 

“Yes, Mrs Fu, ma’am,” said Zuko, and moved over to sit in the seat.

 

“Now for the Pledge!” said Mrs Fu, and everybody stood up and turned to the wall, where, in the absence of a good picture of Zuko, the picture of Fire Lord Ozai had been replaced with a Fire Nation flag.

 

Zuko was pleased to see that his new pledge had already been adopted, even this far out, and he happily recited it along with the class, smirking at the thought that he was technically making a pledge to himself. Some of the others were stumbling over the words, forgetting the new ones and still trying to say the old ones, and Fu called them to the front of the class for disciplining at the end of the pledge, rapping each of them on the hands with her stick.

 

“The Fire Lord himself has commanded the Pledge be changed,” she said to them. “You’re not disrespecting the Fire Lord, I hope?”

 

“No, ma’am,” they mumbled as a group.

 

Corporal punishment was to be expected, Zuko supposed, but perhaps he would introduce some guidelines as to when it was appropriate. When you changed something that had been the same for years within the space of one week, not everyone was going to pick it up right away.

 

“Return to your seats,” she said, and they did. “Now, we will begin with calligraphy.”

 

The calligraphy was about what Zuko would have expected, and, in fact, he found the practice useful, as after all the time he’d spent travelling around his writing was slowly transforming into scribbling. The class was silent as they worked, he noted; they would all know by now that chatter would be punished. Fu was pacing the room, observing the students’ work over their shoulders.

 

“Very good, Pinu,” she said, passing a nerdy-looking student wearing glasses. “Your third stroke could be a little straighter, but otherwise, this is very high quality.”

 

“Thank you, ma’am,” said Pinu.

 

Fu continued on, giving several more students comments with varying levels of harshness. One student, a slim, shy-looking girl named Niyi, was particularly harshly criticised, as her shaking hands had made her calligraphy all wobbly. She was given a rap on the hands with Fu’s stick, and Zuko recognised her as one of the students who’d been called to the front before. He frowned. She wasn’t even being disruptive!

 

Finally, Fu made it to Zuko. She looked at his work, and then at his scar.

 

“You are not concentrating, Lee,” she said, her eyes lingering on his scar. “You have put the fourth stroke in the wrong place completely.” Zuko looked at his page. Oops, so he had. Well, it wasn’t like he was here to learn calligraphy anyway.

 

“Sorry, ma’am,” he said, face tight, and went to repeat the character on a new page.

 

“They may have let you get away with carelessness on the western coast,” said Fu, “but it will not be tolerated here. Hands!”

 

Ah, thought Zuko. He breathed in and out, trying to contain his frustration, and a small puff of steam escaped his nose. Slowly he extended his hands.

 

“One for carelessness, one for slowness, and one for steam,” said Fu, and rapped his hands three times in a row. Zuko bit his lip. “You are seventeen! You should know better than this by now. Now, repeat the character.”

 

“Yes, ma’am,” said Zuko, smarting with the pain and still seething with frustration. But he managed to hold back from producing any more steam until Fu had her back turned.

 

After calligraphy, they worked at mathematics, which was pretty much the same, except that Zuko hadn’t forgotten how to do it, so there wasn’t anything Fu could find to criticise in his work, despite her staring at it for an unusually long period of time. The material was all stuff that he’d already covered, even with the years of sailing around. Tian, the girl sitting at the desk next to his, seemed to come in for the most criticism this time. The rest of the class was silent. Trying to avoid boredom, Zuko turned to observing the reactions of the pupils more closely, and as far as he could tell, they found it pretty boring too.

 

Finally, the class was dismissed, and they were released into the yard for a short break before their firebending class, or, for the non-benders, whatever it was that non-benders learned instead.

 

“Lee, right?” said Tian, coming up to Zuko as he stood contemplating. She was short, and wearing her hair in a messy topknot.

 

“That’s right,” said Zuko. “Tian, wasn’t it?”

 

“Yep, that’s me!” said Tian, smiling. “You wanna come hang out with us? That was so cool, the way your nose was steaming before.”

 

“Uh, sure,” said Zuko, not really sure who ‘us’ was. At least it would give him a chance to talk to some students outside the silence of the classroom.

 

“Hi everyone!” said Tian, as Zuko followed her to her group of friends. “This is Lee. Lee, this is Niyi, Sozon, Azumi, and Made.”

 

“Hi,” said Zuko. “So, uh, what’s it like here usually?”

 

“It’s school, you know,” said Azumi, who was stocky and confident. “Boring and dull. Except for firebending, that’s pretty cool. Even with Bao teaching it.”

 

“Lucky,” said Made, who was tall and muscular. “In non-bending class, we just fight each other with wooden swords all the time. I’m pretty good now, but just cause I practised on my own time. I used to always get my fingers crushed.”

 

“How many of you are firebenders?” Zuko asked. Azumi and Sozon, a short, round kid, both raised their hands. “Me too,” said Zuko. “I know lots of nonbenders who are great too, though.”

 

“My cousin Sanji can hit anything with an arrow,” said Niyi.

 

“Exactly,” said Zuko. “If you practise, you could do something like that too.”

 

“What’s it like on the western coast?” asked Made.

 

“It’s sort of the same, but wetter,” said Zuko, trying to remember back to the times he’d actually been that way.

 

“Let’s play Hide and Explode!” said Sozon.

 

“We’re too old for Hide and Explode,” said Azumi. “That’s a kid’s game.”

 

“How about Truth Or Dare?” suggested Tian. There were murmurs of agreement. Zuko wondered what exactly he’d gotten into.

 

“Alright, then. Azumi! Truth or dare?” asked Tian.

 

Ten minutes later, a loud gong signalled the end of the break. Zuko had decided to avoid having to tell any truths by choosing dare when it was his go, and had promptly been forced to squawk like a komodo-chicken. He had glowered at the group, and then made a half-hearted effort. He should have known the dares would be embarrassing.

 

It was time for the firebending class, and Zuko followed Azumi and Sozon to the other yard, where they would be practising.

 

“Line up!” called a well-built, angry-looking man who was presumably the firebending instructor. Everyone fell into line, and Zuko copied them. The instructor walked up and down the line, inspecting everybody’s posture.

 

“Hmm,” he said. He walked up and down some more. He put his hand under someone’s chin and straightened it. Then he stopped in front of Zuko. “A new student,” he said. “Name?”

 

“Z- I mean- Lee, sir,” said Zuko.

 

“Lee,” said the instructor, looking at him suspiciously. He eyed the scar. “ Can’t remember your own name, hmm? Can you firebend without injuring yourself, Lee?”

 

“Yes, sir,” said Zuko. He gritted his teeth slightly.

 

“Step forward and demonstrate the basic firebending kata,” said the instructor. There was no question as to whether he knew the basic kata. That was the same everywhere in the Fire Nation.

 

Zuko stepped forward, and began the kata. He’d decided when he’d enrolled to hold back a bit from his full skill, since it would be pretty suspicious to be seen as a full prodigy, so he tried to avoid putting too much of his frustration into the moves, and instead keep the flames relatively small, so he’d be seen as mediocre. Even so, the firebending did help him work out some of his feelings. But not many of them.

 

The instructor watched his demonstration with a critical eye, and when Zuko concluded with the traditional bow, said, “Hmm. Adequate, barely. Get back in line.” Zuko stepped back into place.

 

“I am Lieutenant Bao,” the instructor continued. “Remember, I am here to train you all into the best firebenders you can be, so you can better serve the Fire Nation military next time it is called upon. And mark my words, it will be.” Zuko frowned at this. Despite his efforts to decrease the military’s influence on society, it seemed the militant attitude was still being taught in schools.

 

Lieutenant Bao noticed his frown, and came closer, staring at him. “We cannot afford to get weak, just because we’re currently at ‘peace’,” he spat. “Do you understand me, Lee?” Zuko looked back at him, right in the eyes.

 

“I understand you, sir,” he replied, his voice cold and his eyes sparking dangerously. He ought to remind this Lieutenant of his place – but, no, he remembered, he was incognito. And he still had work to do. Later. He could get Bao dismissed later.

 

Bao held his gaze. “Insubordination will not be tolerated,” he said. “Ten laps of the yard, Lee. Go.” Zuko set off without replying.

 

Zuko held a steady pace as he ran, but didn’t go fast enough to get properly out of breath. He needed to try and blend in for now, so he was still aiming for mediocre. Bao was really getting on his nerves, though. He consoled himself by letting out a few puffs of smoke as he ran, and imagining how it would go when he got Bao fired when he was back at the palace and replaced him with someone who wasn’t as war-hungry as an angry hippo cow. Meanwhile, he kept half an eye on how the rest of the group were doing.

 

They had moved out of the line formation and into several lines that were more widely spaced, so they could all go through their katas together. The class of twelve students had a wide variety of abilities, with some making huge bursts of flames and some having the flame only covering their fists, like Zuko had had when he’d first gone to join the Avatar, before he’d met the dragons. Azumi was doing well, which was good to see, but Sozon seemed to be struggling more. Bao’s commands, though, reminded him of how twisted firebending was in the Fire Nation right now, compared to the true way. Every one was about anger, aggression, rage. It was fire as destruction. It wasn’t right.

 

He finished his laps as the group was going through the last kata, and dropped smoothly into a spot on the back row to finish with them, shooting out a few deliberately small blasts of fire before ending in a bow.

 

“It’s time to teach you weaklings a new movement!” shouted Bao. “All eyes on me!”

 

Zuko watched as Bao demonstrated the movement. He knew it already, from before he’d even been banished, but he supposed if you were going very, very slowly, it was sort of advanced. But not really. Was this really what the oldest students were learning? Bao turned out to actually be vaguely competent at firebending, though, and when he did the movement, he produced plenty of angry flame. If Zuko had been somebody else, he’d have worried about fighting the guy.

 

“Now you! Everybody pair up and practise the movement. Start without the fire, and when I say so, you can add fire!” ordered Bao. “Remember! You should be angry! You’re trying to destroy them! You want to burn them to ashes!” The students quickly paired up, leaving only Zuko and Sozon left. Zuko quickly made his way over to the other student.

 

“Hi, Lee,” said Sozon. “You probably don’t want to practise with me. I’m terrible.”

 

“Maybe you just need a different method,” said Zuko quietly. “I already learnt this move, so I can teach you.”

 

“You’d do that?” said Sozon. Zuko nodded.

 

“Put your feet like this,” he explained.

 

By the time Bao made it to the pair, Zuko had managed to get Sozon to switch from a weak, unsteady version of the movement to something far more solid and flowing. Bao looked at the pair, eyes narrowed.

 

“That’s… not pathetic for once, Sozon,” he said, seeming annoyed that he had to admit to it. “Now, Lee.”

 

“Sir,” said Zuko, then went into the movement. He could have done it with his eyes closed, so there was no way to stop himself from looking strong, graceful, and completely in control. Well, that was fine. He was in control. He was the Fire Lord.

 

“...Good,” said Bao begrudgingly, seeming surprised. “You two may begin firebending now.”

 

“Sir,” they both replied, and then waited until he moved onto the next pair.

 

“Can you show me again how it was with the fire?” asked Sozon.

 

“Sure,” said Zuko. “Stand back.” He waited until Sozon was far enough back, and then smoothly began the firebending movement. This time, since Bao wasn’t looking, he didn’t bother holding back so much.

 

“Wow,” said Sozon. “You’re really good. Why didn’t you do that on the katas earlier?”

 

“You think I want to get Bao’s attention?” Zuko asked him quietly.

 

“He _has_ got a stick up his butt,” said Sozon, smirking.

 

“It’s your turn, anyway,” said Zuko.

 

“I guess,” said Sozon, beginning the movement. Zuko watched carefully. The other boy was managing his new improved stance, but still only making small puffs of flame.

 

“Ugh, I can’t do it,” said Sozon. “I just can’t get angry enough. I don’t want to destroy everything with fire… The world’s too pretty for that!”

 

“Think of it like this,” said Zuko. “Fire’s not just destruction. Fire is life.”

 

“Fire is… life?” repeated Sozon hesitantly. “I’ve never heard of that before.”

 

“I had some unusual teachers,” said Zuko.

 

“What’s it mean?” asked Sozon.

 

“Any strong emotion can power your firebending,” explained Zuko, making sure to stay quiet to avoid attracting Bao’s attention. “You need to get in touch with your inner fire. What do you want in life, Sozon? What makes you feel alive?”

 

“I dunno,” said Sozon. “Beautiful stuff, I guess. Like when the trees are covered in flowers. I just want to be happy.”

 

“So think about the times you saw something beautiful, when you felt really, really, alive. Think about when you were happy,” said Zuko. “Then try it again.”

 

Sozon closed his eyes, as if thinking. Then he repeated the movement. This time, he had flames worth talking about; they were much closer to average in size than tiny.

 

“It worked!” said Sozon, his mouth open. Zuko smiled.

 

“From now on whenever you firebend, think about that,” he said. “Let’s practise some more.”

 

When Bao came back around, he witnessed both Sozon and Zuko do the movement solidly and with an average size flame.

 

“Hmm,” he said. “Adequate, I suppose. Remember, aggression! You want to punch through their heart!”

 

“Sir,” they chorused. Once Bao’s back was turned, Zuko winked at Sozon.

 

After firebending, the students were sent to lunch, where Zuko, Sozon, and Azumi met up with the rest of the group. Picking through the bland, overcooked food – he’d need to improve that, if he wanted to have healthy citizens they needed to have decent cooking – Zuko listened to the others’ conversation.

 

“So how was firebending class? Was Lieutenant Bao grumpy again today?” asked Tian.

 

“He’s always grumpy,” said Azumi. “He made Lee run ten laps for insubordination.”

 

“Really?” said Made, looking interested.

 

“He was talking as if the peace we have now is only temporary,” said Zuko hotly. “But the war’s over! We’re not going back to war.”

 

“How would you know?” asked Niyi.

 

“Well, uh...” said Zuko, scrambling to cover himself. “The new pledge! The new pledge even says we should walk in peace. Fire Lord Zuko probably doesn’t want to go to war if he wrote a pledge about peace.”

 

“I hope we get lots of peace,” said Sozon. “I don’t want to fight in the army.”

 

“Trust me, you won’t have to,” said Zuko. “I mean, uh, that’s my theory.” Niyi looked at him suspiciously again, but kept quiet this time.

 

“So, uh, how was nonbending class?” asked Zuko, changing the topic.

 

“Oh, it was the same as usual,” said Tian. “Though, did you see what Pinu did?” From there, the lunch descended into gossip and laughter.

 

After lunch, it was time for history, so they all filed back into Fu’s classroom, greeting her when she entered. They were studying the reign of Fire Lord Azulon, and, unfortunately, it seemed the class was still heavily biased towards the Fire Nation. As the class went on, Zuko got more and more frustrated with it. Hadn’t they received his edict!? He’d sent it over a week ago!

 

“And that was when Fire Lord Azulon made the decision to conquer Wei Bai, to civilise the Earth Kingdom peasants there with superior Fire Nation culture, as was right,” said Fu at one point. Zuko couldn’t take it any more. He raised his hand.

 

“Yes, Lee?” asked Fu.

 

“Didn’t the Fire Lord send out an edict to every school saying that all the nations had equal value and that the Fire Nation wasn’t to be treated as superior?” said Zuko. “Ma’am,” he added belatedly. Fu narrowed her eyes.

 

“And how would you know what the Fire Lord’s edicts say, Lee?” she asked. Because I wrote them, Zuko thought.

 

“At my old school,” he said, thinking on his feet, “the teachers read them out to the classes. And that one was just last week.”

 

“Hmm,” said Fu. “You are making this up. The edict said that we should include teaching about other nations in the lesson now. The Fire Nation is clearly superior to all the other nations, as you should know. Don’t question my teaching again. Now, hands.”

 

“No,” said Zuko. The other students looked at him, wide-eyed.

 

“What did you say, young man?” asked Mrs Fu.

 

“I said no,” said Zuko. “I’m right and you know it. It said that as well as what I said.”

 

“I will see your parents at the end of school!” shouted Mrs Fu. “And you will miss your music lesson, and the rest of this one. Report to the headmaster’s office!”

 

“Fine,” said Zuko, and stormed out of the room.

 

“Lee?” said Headmaster Yuon, once Zuko made it to the office. “You’re not in trouble already, are you? I did tell you how much we value discipline here.”

 

“I am very disciplined,” said Zuko. “Sir.”

 

“Then why are you here, Lee?” asked Yuon. “My staff don’t send students to me lightly.” Zuko stayed silent, glowering at the headmaster.

 

“I’ve got all day,” said Yuon. Zuko let out a puff of steam.

 

“I contradicted Mrs Fu and didn’t let her hit me with a stick,” said Zuko.

 

“Contradicting a teacher?!” said Yuon. “Now, why would you do that, Lee?”

 

“Because she was wrong,” said Zuko. “Sir.”

 

“Hmm,” said Yuon. “Well, I suppose we’ll see when your parents get here later. Wait here for now.” At that, the headmaster vanished inside his office. Zuko steamed some more, and then sat there thinking.

 

-

 

At last Meelon turned up, at what must have been the end of the day. Fu must have directed him to come here when he’d come to collect Zuko.

 

“Sir?” Meelon whispered, after checking nobody was listening. “What happened?”

 

“The teacher ignored the edict I sent out for teaching history,” said Zuko, just as quietly. “I lost my temper and contradicted her in class. She sent me to the office.”

 

“Ah,” said Meelon. Then he turned, since Headmaster Yuon had reappeared from his office.

 

“Come in!” Yuon said. “Minzu, wasn’t it? You too, Lee. Mrs Fu will be here momentarily.”

 

The three men sat in silence while they waited for Fu, and after a few minutes, she turned up.

 

“Now then,” said Yuon. “What did you want to say to Lee’s father, Mrs Fu?”

 

“Lee is incredibly disrespectful!” said Fu, as Meelon struggled to maintain a straight face. “He questioned my teaching, and had the nerve to say that it was contradicting the Fire Lord’s edicts! As if he would know what the Fire Lord’s edicts said!” She paused for a moment to breath. “And _then,”_ she added, “he refused to put his hands out for the rod! And he didn’t even have the courtesy to call me ma’am while doing it! He ought to be punished!”

 

“Hmm,” said Yuon. “This does sound bad, Minzu, I must say. I had higher expectations of your son.”

 

“How about we hear Lee’s side of the story?” suggested Meelon, glancing towards Zuko. Zuko nodded imperceptibly, holding back his growing anger. “This doesn’t sound like my son at all,” Meelon continued.

 

“We don’t usually do that,” said Yuon, “but if you insist.” Zuko took a couple of calming breaths.

 

“Lee, if you would?” asked Meelon.

 

“The Fire Lord’s edict,” said Zuko, “which was read out at my last school last week, read: By the order of Fire Lord Zuko, history and geography lessons in all schools will now respect the equal value of all nations, and will no longer claim that the Fire Nation is inherently superior to the other nations. History lessons will now include lessons on the histories of the Southern and Northern Water Tribes, the Earth Kingdom, and the Air Nomads. It was signed by Councillor Jiu, the councillor for education.” He paused for a second. “Mrs Fu broke the edict repeatedly when she claimed multiple times that it was a good thing that Fire Lord Azulon conquered the colonies because they were savages and peasants and they needed the Fire Nation culture to civilise them. So I spoke up. Sir.”

 

“You were read the edict at school,” said Yuon, looking dubiously at Zuko.

 

“It’s true,” said Meelon, improvising to back Zuko up. “They called the parents in as well whenever there was a new edict. I heard it too.”

 

“Hmm,” said Yuon, contemplatively. “It is important that we follow the Fire Lord’s edicts. Mrs Fu, would you care to explain how your teaching is in line with the Fire Lord’s commands?”

 

“The other nations have provided plenty of value in the form of rich resources,” said Fu. “And the superior Fire Nation culture has developed over time. It is not inherent to us. Centuries ago, we too were once savages. But we have learned better.”

 

“And so we see that we are perfectly compliant!” said Yuon. “Now, we cannot have Lee here refusing discipline and setting a poor example for the rest of the youth,” he continued. “You will punish Lee at home, Minzu?”

 

“I’ll give him the punishment that he is due,” said Meelon, while Zuko continued to quietly fume. “Now, are we finished here?”

 

“Yes, I think we’re about done,” said Yuon. “You are dismissed.”

 

-

 

A short while later, the pair made it back to the house.

 

“My lord,” said Ruji in greeting, once the door was closed. “Captain Meelon.”

 

“Ugh! I can’t believe these teachers!” cried Zuko. “Uh, sorry, Ruji. It’s good to see you again.”

 

“Uh… thank you, my lord,” said Ruji.

 

“They were certainly very disrespectful, my lord,” said Meelon.

 

“They’re just… ignoring the edict I sent out, while claiming that I worded it so that they’re not!” Zuko shouted. “And the firebending instructor keeps talking about how peace is only temporary and they all need to be ready to go to war, as if he actually WANTS war! The curriculum’s pretty much the same as it was under Father!”

 

“So, they fail the inspection, then, my lord?” asked Ruji tentatively.

 

“They fail it completely!” shouted Zuko. “Though, I haven’t seen the music instructor yet. I’ll try and hold my temper long enough to meet them tomorrow.”

 

“You’re continuing with your plan, then, Fire Lord Zuko?” asked Meelon.

 

“Yes,” said Zuko. “I need to see more so I know better how to change it. But there’s some things I want to change right away. Do we have a messenger hawk roost here?”

 

“There’s one on the top floor, my lord,” said Ruji. “We have five hawks altogether. If I may, I suggest that two are kept for emergencies.”

  
“I only need one right now, anyway,” said Zuko. “I’ll write my message, and then you can show me.”

 

In the study, Zuko took out his seal from the secure pouch he was wearing it in, and then penned a message back to Mai in the capital, with instructions to pass on the message to Councillor Jiu. Underneath the introduction, he wrote another edict, one which would hopefully clarify the apparent loopholes in his old edict, and which would also make it clear that the nation was at peace and was likely to stay that way, and that this should be reflected in the firebending and nonbending lessons. Half an hour later, the hawk was on its way, and Zuko went to practise firebending in the courtyard, taking the chance to properly let out his frustration. It felt good to let go. Hopefully, Jiu would get the message out soon, and things would change.

 

-

 

The next day started much the same as the first one, with the class reciting the pledge. Fu was giving Zuko the eye, but he supposed that was to be expected after his performance yesterday. And more of the students managed to recite the pledge correctly today, at least, which meant that less of them got punished.

 

He concentrated more on his calligraphy than he had the previous day, not wanting to give Fu the excuse to hit him again, turning out beautifully written characters which even his old tutors in the palace would have praised him for. Poor Niyi, though, couldn’t avoid Fu’s vengeful gaze, and got rapped on the palms repeatedly for her shaky efforts. He’d have to ask Niyi about that, Zuko decided, if he could come up with an excuse.

 

Mathematics also went about the same as it had the day before, with Tian getting the worst of the stick. Then came the break.

 

“Lee!” said Tian excitedly. “It was so brave, what you did yesterday. Did the Fire Lord really say the nations are all equal?”

 

“He did,” said Zuko.

 

“Did you get in trouble with your parents for talking back?” asked Sozon.

 

“Not really,” said Zuko. “My, ah, father agrees with me anyway. But if Fu asks, he gave me all due punishment.”

 

“Clever,” said Made.

 

“You know,” said Niyi, looking contemplative. “My parents took me to see the coronation in the capital, and you kind of look like Fire Lord Zuko, Lee.” Zuko looked at her, alarmed.

 

“What? No! How ridiculous! Fire Lord Zuko clearly looks much better than me, since he’s the Fire Lord!” he babbled. Now everyone was looking at him strangely. Great.

 

“I mean, I guess I could look like him. People do look similar sometimes,” he added. “Maybe we have the same hair or something.”

 

“My sister got mistaken for the mayor once,” said Azumi. “After that she started dressing differently.”

 

“Oh! Did she get engaged yet?” asked Tian excitedly, and the conversation moved on. Zuko breathed a sigh of relief.

 

In firebending class, Bao was just as loud as he had been the day before. Zuko did his best not to draw attention, and paired up with Sozon again, offering his help, since the class level was still a lot below his own level. Zuko looked forward to when his new edict arrived and Bao would hopefully be forced to change. He knew it might take a day or two to get there, though.

 

He made it through lunch without incident, and even managed to get through history and geography this time, by forcing himself not to react or do anything that would give Fu an excuse. At least today they’d been talking about the history of war balloons and the geography of the islands, rather than anything that would focus on the other nations.

 

So it was that Zuko finally made it to the music lesson.

 

“I am Mr Kaizo,” said the teacher, a serious-looking man with a slight limp. “You must be Lee. You can play the pipa.”

 

“Sir,” said Zuko, nodding. He took a place at the end of the line of pipa players.

 

“Today we will be playing _Blossom Of The Fire Lily_ ,” said Kaizo. “The music is in front of you. On three.” He counted to three, and the class began playing, with Kaizo conducting.

 

 _Blossom Of The Fire Lily_ had been a common choice under Ozai, Zuko knew, because it was slow and steady, inoffensive, and avoided political themes. Zuko was impressed by the music lesson so far, though, as Kaizo seemed like the most level-headed staff member he’d met. The music was just like he expected music to be when played by amateur musicians. Though when he thought about it, he remembered Aang saying something about how the Fire Nation used to have dances. He should probably make some sort of statement saying that dancing was encouraged again, he realised.

 

After the music lesson, once everyone was leaving, Niyi pulled Zuko into an empty corridor, one that led to a storage cupboard.

 

“You were brushing it off earlier,” she said quietly, “but I never forget a face. Lee, you look really, really similar to the Fire Lord. It’s been bothering me all day. Your scar’s even the same shape. Exactly.”

 

“Drop it, Niyi,” Zuko whispered, looking around warily.

 

“Why? Why are you so touchy about it?” Niyi whispered back. “It’s just… are you his long lost twin or something? You can’t actually be the Fire Lord, because the Fire Lord is probably in the palace doing Fire Lord stuff… but you look exactly the same… I can’t figure it out. You can’t be him...”

 

“Can’t I?” asked Zuko. “Like you said, my scar’s even the same shape.” He moved further down the corridor and out of sight of any passers-by. Then he took out the signet ring with the royal seal on and put it on his finger, and pushed his hair with his hand so it resembled the style he’d been wearing at his coronation, drawing himself up to his full regal posture.

 

“Wait… no way...” said Niyi. “You’re… you’re him, aren’t you? That’s the royal seal. Oh, Agni, you’re the Fire Lord. I’m supposed to bow or something!” She dropped to her knees and started to put her head to the floor. Zuko quickly grabbed her and pulled her back up.

 

“Don’t tell anyone!” he whispered urgently. “You understand me, Niyi? Keep calling me Lee in public. No bowing.”

 

“Of course, Mr Fire Lord Zuko sir!” she whispered back. He looked at her. “I mean, of course, Lee,” she amended.

 

“Better,” he said, slipping the ring back into its pouch. “If you’ll come with me to the house I’m staying in, I’ll explain what I’m doing here. Tell your parents you’re studying, or something.”

 

“Yes, sir,” said Niyi. “I mean… sure, Lee, studying sounds great. Oh… um… who was it who went to the parents’ conference for you yesterday, then?”

 

“It was my personal guard,” said Zuko, and set off walking. Niyi followed him out of the corridor and back to where the parents were gathering. He caught Meelon’s eye, subtly gesturing that he should come over.

 

“Afternoon, Lee,” said Meelon. “How was your day?”

 

“Better than yesterday,” said Zuko. “Niyi here just realised a couple of things, so she’s coming over for dinner. We need to find her parents and let them know.”

 

“Of course,” said Meelon. At that, Niyi spotted her mother, who came over.

 

“Niyi?” she asked. “Who is this?”

 

“Th-this is, ah, Lee,” Niyi stammered nervously. “And his...”

 

“Father,” prompted Zuko.

 

“And his father, yes,” Niyi continued. “I’m going to his place to study calligraphy with him, since I’m behind on that.”

 

“It’s good to see you taking an interest in this sort of thing,” said Niyi’s mother, eyeing Zuko’s toned muscles and good posture. “Be back before dark, please.”

 

“Yes, Ma,” said Niyi. Her mother left, and Zuko led her and Meelon in the opposite direction.

 

Niyi stayed quiet as they walked over to the house, seeming nervous. Zuko imagined it was the first time she’d met actual royalty, so he didn’t blame her. He knocked on the door to the house, and Ruji opened up.

 

“M- Lee!” she said, realising that Niyi was there.

 

“Hi, Ruji,” said Zuko. “There’ll be an extra for dinner today. Come in, Niyi.” She did, and he waited for Meelon to shut the door.

 

“Right,” said Zuko. “So, the reason we’re all here today is that Niyi has really really good face recognition skills. Which is how she recognised me as the Fire Lord from when she went to my coronation. I’m going to get changed, and then we can go over some things. Niyi, wait here.”

 

“Y-yes, sir!” Niyi stammered.

 

“Very good, my lord,” said Ruji. Zuko motioned Meelon to follow him upstairs.

 

Zuko unlocked the chest where he was keeping his better-quality clothes, and took out a simple but high-quality outfit that would mark him as lordly without being annoying to wear. He also found his crown, which Meelon helped put in his hair. Then he headed back downstairs.

 

Seeing him coming downstairs with the crown on, Niyi decided to prostrate herself again.

 

“Please rise,” he said wearily.

 

“Sorry, Fire Lord Zuko, sir,” said Niyi, standing up. “It’s just… even though I knew, the crown made it feel real-er. Sir.”

 

“I suppose it is pretty impressive,” said Zuko, blushing. “Anyway, you’re probably wondering why I’m not in the palace.”

 

“Yes, sir, I was,” said Niyi. “N-not that it’s any of my business, of course!”

 

“I’m doing a surprise inspection,” said Zuko.

 

“S-surprise inspection, sir?” asked Niyi.

 

“I need to change the education policy, but I only ever had private tutors,” he explained. “So I’m seeing what it’s actually like for normal people.”

 

“Um, very wise, sir,” said Niyi. “Um… are they passing or failing the surprise inspection?”

 

“Failing,” said Zuko. “Half the teachers are ignoring government edicts! They’re stubborn hippo-cows! Ugh!” He breathed fire upwards into the air, and Niyi looked at him warily. “Sorry,” said Zuko. “But when I’m done, they’re going to get fired. Anyway, don’t tell anyone about this. Outside this house, if I’m not wearing Fire Lord clothes, I’m Lee, Captain Meelon here is my father Minzu, Ruji here is my aunt, and there is no inspection.”

 

“Yes, my lord,” said Niyi. “I won’t tell anyone, I promise.”

 

“Good,” said Zuko. “You were having calligraphy problems, Niyi. Tell me about them.”

 

“My lord?” she asked, hesitantly.

 

“I saw the way your hands were shaking, and how Fu was treating you for it,” said Zuko. “How long has that been going on?”

 

“I have a nervous disorder, my lord,” explained Niyi. “I can’t draw the lines straight even when I try.”

 

“And Fu knows that?” he asked.

 

“Yeah, she does,” said Niyi. “It’s so unfair. My lord. Um, not to complain or anything.”

 

“You should be complaining,” said Zuko. “It’s unfair to be punished for something you can’t even help. There was nothing you could have done to avoid shaky calligraphy.” He reached up and absent-mindedly touched his scar. “Ruji, fetch some parchment, please? I’m going to write another letter.” Then he remembered everyone was still standing up. “Oh, right. Niyi, sit down at the dinner table if you want to. Captain Meelon, you too. And Niyi, after I’ve written this, if you want we can study calligraphy before dinner.”

 

“Thank you, my lord,” said Niyi, and everyone went to the places they’d been told to go.

Once Ruji brought the parchment, Zuko quickly wrote up another edict in a letter to Mai. This one restricted the use of corporal punishment to disruptive behaviour, banning it for mere incompetence or on some hippo-cow’s whim. He sealed it up, gave it to Ruji to send off with a messenger hawk, and then asked Niyi where she wanted to start with the calligraphy.

 

At the start, she was pretty shy, still seeming shocked that the _Fire Lord_ was _talking to her_ , but after a while, she seemed to open up a bit more, and by the end of the evening, with a break for dinner, Zuko had managed to teach her several important things she’d been missing due to the stress of getting hit with a stick every lesson, and between the two of them, Ruji, and Meelon, they’d even come up with a couple of ways of trying to compensate for the shaking. Niyi would never make a professional scribe, but she was improving.

 

Eventually, it started to get dark, so Zuko volunteered Meelon to walk her back to her house – he didn’t think it’d go too well if he went out wearing the crown and robes of the Fire Lord.

“See you tomorrow, Niyi,” he said, smiling at her. “Good work on the calligraphy.”

 

“Thanks, Fire Lord Zuko!” she replied happily. “I’m so grateful. This was really helpful.” He nodded and waved awkwardly, and Meelon took her outside.

 

-

 

The next couple of days passed pretty similarly to the first two, with the teachers frustrating Zuko, and the lessons themselves seeming easy and boring. Niyi kept glancing at him, though fortunately she was remembering to call him Lee. In firebending, he switched to helping Azumi, since Sozon seemed to have learned the new bending technique pretty well, and Zuko thought it was only fair of him to spread it around. It was the way bending was supposed to be done.

 

On Friday, there was a reluctant change in the tone of the lessons, and Zuko smiled as he realised his new edict must have arrived, and that Fu and Yuon hadn’t been able to find any loopholes in it to use to keep brainwashing his people. Plus, Fu didn’t hit Niyi with the stick in calligraphy at all, or Tian in mathematics, so his other edict must have arrived too. Niyi looked at him suspiciously, and he smiled at her.

 

“It was so nice that Fu wasn’t hitting me today, m- Lee,” she whispered to him during the break. She blushed. “Um… was it what I said to you that changed it?”

 

“I wrote an edict about it,” whispered Zuko in reply, after checking nobody was listening. “It was dishonourable of Fu to treat you like that.”

 

“Thank you,” said Niyi breathlessly, and Zuko could almost hear the unspoken honorific.

 

“Not a problem,” said Zuko.

 

The biggest problem that day was what happened in firebending. Lieutenant Bao didn’t seem to have taken Zuko’s new ruling with as much good grace as Mrs Fu had. He started the lesson holding a piece of parchment, which Zuko realised from the broken seal must be a copy of his edict.

 

“Alright, weaklings!” said Bao. “This paper here says the Fire Lord wants me to tell you that we’re at peace and we’re not planning to go to war any time soon. So consider yourselves told!” He rolled up the parchment and slipped it inside his robes.

 

“Does that sound likely to you?!” he shouted. “It doesn’t sound likely to me! Does that sound likely to you?” There were a few hesitant mumbles, the class seeming unsure of what the correct answer was. Zuko himself frowned, but stayed silent, not wanting to get pulled into another pointless meeting.

 

“I don’t hear a ‘no, sir’!” shouted Bao. “I said, does that sound likely to you?!”

 

“No, sir,” the class said uncertainly. Zuko stayed silent again. He wasn’t going to agree to something he didn’t agree with.

 

“So we agree then!” said Bao. “Soon, one of those… other nations will attack, or the Fire Lord will change his mind, or perhaps there’ll be another Fire Lord, one who doesn’t favour peace so much! And then we’ll be at war! So get to work! Kata!” Zuko glowered at Bao as he went through the first kata. The hippo-cow of an instructor clearly didn’t respect him as Fire Lord, and was getting dangerously close to treason. He resolved to keep an eye on him.

 

-

 

Then the weekend came, and Zuko decided to have a look around the town. It would give him a better understanding of the local people, he decided, and the context which produced such absolute hippo-cows for teachers. Wearing the same outfit he’d worn when he enrolled in the school, and leaving Meelon and Ruji to watch the house, he headed into the centre of the town.

 

The market was busy, he noted, which was good. Trade was clearly doing well here.

 

“Lee!” came Azumi’s voice from over by one of the stalls. “Come join us!” Zuko looked over, and saw that the whole group was gathered there. He walked across to join them. Niyi smiled at him nervously.

 

“Hey, guys,” he said. “What’s up?”

 

“We’re just hanging out,” said Made. “You know, the usual. Thinking about how to take over the world-”

 

“Don’t even joke about that!” shouted Zuko. The group quivered at the sudden outburst, especially Niyi.

 

“Er, okay,” said Made. “Well, it’s not like I was planning to do it. We’re just wandering around, maybe kick a ball around later.”

 

“Well, don’t take over the world,” said Zuko.

 

“Er, right,” said Made, looking confused.

 

“I mean… it would be a really bad idea to take over the world,” he hurriedly clarified. “It’s probably treason, and the Avatar would come and fight you too.” Everyone nodded, reassured.

 

“I bet the Avatar is really good at fighting,” said Tian.

 

“I heard he massacred enemies in his sleep,” said Azumi. “And that he’s ruthless and bloodthirsty and ten feet tall.”

 

“Um… where did you hear that exactly?” asked Zuko.

 

“That’s what Mrs Fu said in our history class last month,” she replied. “It’s a good thing Fire Lord Zuko managed to get him not to attack us any more.”

 

“...Right,” said Zuko, making a mental note to update the curriculum on the Avatar as soon as possible. He could just see the look on Aang’s face if the younger boy heard people were being taught he was a bloodthirsty monster. “I heard the Avatar’s a kid,” said Zuko. “And that he took Fire Lord Ozai’s bending away instead of killing him.”

 

“A kid? No way...” said Tian. “He’s gotta be a seasoned warrior if he beat Fire Lord Ozai.”

 

“He could be a kid,” said Niyi, cautiously. “Maybe he practised a lot when he was growing up.” The group looked thoughtful for a moment.

 

“Hey, as long as he doesn’t want to kill us, I’m happy,” said Sozon. “I like being alive.” Everyone nodded again, chorusing agreement.

 

“So, what’s fun to do in this town?” asked Zuko, changing the topic.

 

-

 

A couple of hours later, Zuko was well into the full tour of the town. Everyone had suggestions on where to go, and they’d eventually decided to visit all of them in turn. Zuko was busy filing away the locations of everything so he could find them easily later.

 

They’d stopped outside a little cafe, and were chatting away, when a cloaked and hooded figure walked past.

 

“Hey, that’s Lieutenant Bao,” whispered Niyi to Zuko, as the others talked. “I recognise his chin. He’s got a really distinctive mole.”

 

“What’s he doing?” whispered Zuko back. “I’m going to follow him.”

 

“I’ll come too,” said Niyi. “I mean, if that’s ok...” Zuko nodded, and the two stood up.

 

“We’re going to take another look around,” he said, for the benefit of the rest of the group. Then he lead Niyi in the direction the hooded figure had gone.

 

Niyi was surprisingly good at following someone, Zuko noticed, considering that she had a nervous disorder and kept shaking. She seemed to be managing to stay still enough for this sort of thing, and mostly quiet. She did try to talk to him at one point, but he put his finger to his lips, and she stayed silent after that. Stealthily, they kept up with Bao, trailing him through several side streets until he reached a small house. Then they ducked underneath a windowsill at the side of the house, and listened.

 

“The fire lily grows best under the summer sun,” came a voice from inside the house.

 

“May the sun’s rays spread across the world,” said Lieutenant Bao. That was definitely his voice. Zuko recognised it.

 

“How long will the March of Civilisation last?” asked the other voice.

 

“Until the volcanoes have worn down to the sea,” said Bao.

 

“Welcome, Lieutenant Bao,” said the voice. “I was so pleased that you accepted my invitation to our little conspiracy. We need more fine men like you.”

 

“It was time, Ruon, my friend,” said Bao. “The new Fire Lord has no understanding of the need for war. He would stop the March of Civilisation in his tracks. And there are still so many savages in need of civilising. I will not allow our children to be brainwashed with _peace_.” He said peace like it was a swear word. Niyi looked worriedly at Zuko, who put his finger to his lips again, and signalled that they should keep listening.

 

“Our network may be small for now,” said Ruon, “but as we persuade more people to see things from our perspective, we will grow beyond this town and throughout the nation, until we are a significant faction in politics.” There was a short pause, and footsteps. “And then,” Ruon continued, “we will strike.” There was a thud, like he’d hit his hand on a desk. “Fire Lord Zuko will fall, and his desire for peace with him.”

 

“I look forward to it,” said Bao. “And until then?”

 

“Until then?” asked Ruon. “I have plans for you, Lieutenant Bao. We all have our role to play.”

 

“Niyi, get Captain Meelon from my house,” Zuko whispered quietly. “Tell him we need to arrest two people, at least one firebender. And bring him here.”

 

“Sir,” whispered Niyi shakily, and fled as quickly as possible. Zuko breathed, steadying himself.

 

“In your position as a firebending instructor,” Ruon was saying, “you are ideally placed to subvert the Fire Lord’s educational edicts, and to influence suitable candidates amongst the students to join our cause. And it would be such a shame if tragic accidents were to befall teachers or students who seem dangerously opposed to us, you understand.”

 

“I do,” said Bao. “And I’ll take pleasure in it.”

 

Zuko decided their conversation had gone on long enough.

 

“This meeting’s over!” he said, leaping through the window into the house, landing in a fighting stance. To all appearances, it was a normal house, with the normal sort of furnishings. Ruon and Bao were the only ones in there.

 

“Lee!” cried Bao.

 

“You know this boy?” asked Ruon.

 

“He just transferred into the school,” said Bao. “He’s been causing trouble all week. Disrespectful and peace-loving. And only a mediocre firebender.” The two men circled around, and Zuko settled into a fighting stance.

 

“You made a mistake coming here, boy,” said Ruon. “You’re outmatched and outclassed.”

 

“You’re the ones making the mistake,” said Zuko, and shot fire from his fists.

 

The fight that followed was intense. Both men were shooting fire at Zuko, and he had to work to keep up with parrying both of them, trying to fit in his own counterattacks. He was better than either one of them, he could tell, but they had skill, Ruon especially, and together they were slowly wearing him down. He was beginning to think he was in trouble when Captain Meelon came bursting through the door, Niyi trailing behind him.

 

Quick on his feet, Meelon jumped into the fight with a sweeping fire kick aimed at Ruon. Ruon stumbled back as he blocked, and after that, Zuko and the Captain worked together, flowing seamlessly, a product of all the practice Zuko had made the guard do with him. The tables had turned, and now Zuko and Meelon were winning the fight.

 

Together, they pushed Bao and Ruon into a corner, knocking them down, and then Meelon moved in and fitted them both with handcuffs, and bound their legs.

 

“Lieutenant Bao, and associate,” said Zuko. “You’re under arrest for treason.”

 

“By whose authority?” Bao asked. “His?” He jerked his head in Meelon’s direction.

 

“Mine,” said Zuko.

 

Zuko grabbed Ruon’s chains, signalling to Meelon for him to grab Bao’s, and then, as they left the little house, he suggested to Niyi that she go back and find the rest of their friends. She nodded, and scurried off.

 

After that, Zuko and Meelon dragged the prisoners back across town to the house, ignoring their shouts of confusion. They were stopped at one point by a local guard, but at Zuko’s nod, Meelon pulled out the papers that signified he was an official royal guard on royal business, and they were allowed to continue.

 

“So he’s a royal guard, but who are you?” the local guard had asked Zuko. “You’re not wearing any insignia.”

 

“I’m in disguise,” Zuko had said. The guard had looked puzzled, but had wisely avoided any further comments.

 

Eventually, the pair made it to the house.

 

“Do we have somewhere we can keep these two, Ruji?” Zuko called.

 

“There’s a room downstairs, sir,” said Ruji. Zuko nodded, and headed into the cellar to investigate. The room was in fact a small prison, with cells, so Zuko got Meelon to put them in separate cells, and then left them to stew in their thoughts for a while.

 

While he remembered, he wrote another letter to Mai, including an edict about the true nature of the Avatar, requiring all schools to cover the topic in the first history lesson for each class after they received the edict, and sent it off as quickly as possible. He really didn’t want Aang mad at him. Then, he changed into a similar outfit to the one he’d worn for Niyi on Wednesday, including the crown, and took Meelon back downstairs to interrogate their guests.

 

On seeing Zuko in all his Fire Lord glory, all the blood drained from Ruon’s face. Meanwhile, Bao started spluttering.

 

“What… but… Lee? Why are you dressed like that? How?” he said, not comprehending. “I’m a Lieutenant! You can’t do this to me!”

 

“That’s Fire Lord Zuko to you, _Mr_ Bao,” said Zuko coldly. Bao’s eyes widened, and his face went pale too, the understanding finally sinking in.

 

“Please, Fire Lord Zuko, have mercy,” said Ruon, bowing prostrate. “We didn’t mean it, we didn’t mean anything!”

 

“Shut up,” snarled Zuko, and Ruon fell silent. “Spare me the lies. You were plotting to overthrow me, and you know it.”

 

He paced back and forth for a second, and then stopped. “You two,” said Zuko, “are part of what the worst part of my father’s reign was. Even though I REPEATEDLY sent out word that we are at PEACE, you are STILL trying to restart the war. Are you so ready for blood to be spilled in battle? That’s people’s lives! Men, women, children! We finally have a chance for peace, and you want to throw it away?! Are you that ignorant!? Are you that selfish!?” He looked at the two men for a moment, pathetic and lying in the dust.

 

“You disgust me,” he said. “I’ll decide what to do with you two later. Meelon, make sure they don’t escape.”

 

“Yes, my lord,” said Meelon, and set to watching them.

 

That night, Zuko snuck back into the little house, looking around for any more evidence of the conspiracy. In the middle of the floor, under the rug, he found a trapdoor. He pried it open, climbed down into the cellar, and carefully looked around.

 

The cellar was empty of people, but had a map rolled out on a table, and several important-looking books scattered around. There was a picture of Fire Lord Ozai hanging on one wall. Skimming through the books, Zuko realised that they were the records of the group’s activities. Jackpot. He collected as many as he could, and then fled the house as quickly as possible.

 

He spent the next day reviewing the evidence. It was damning for both Ruon and Bao, and listed ten other members of their conspiracy. Zuko thanked Agni for traitors that were stupid enough to write everything they did down, and drafted some letters for the arrest of the rest of the conspirators, to be sent as soon as he decided it was time to act.

 

On Monday, back in the school, Niyi caught up with Zuko before the first class started.

 

“Hi, Lee,” she said nervously.

 

“Hey, Niyi,” said Zuko.

 

“I’m glad you’re ok,” Niyi said, her voice dropping to a whisper. “Uh… if you don’t mind me asking? What did you do with Lieutenant Bao and that other man?”

 

“They’re locked up at my house until I decide what to do with them,” whispered Zuko. “They won’t be planning any treason again, don’t worry.”

 

“Oh, good,” said Niyi. Then Mrs Fu entered the room, and everyone fell silent.

 

“I have an announcement for you today, class,” she said, after they’d greeted her and recited the pledge. “Lieutenant Bao is absent from school today. Firebenders will report to class with the nonbenders.”

  
“Yes, ma’am,” said the class.

 

So, the school didn’t know what had happened to Bao, Zuko thought. Good.

 

The rest of the morning went by as usual, except that Zuko had something to look forward to today: his first look into a nonbending class. The students spent break coming up with theories as to where Bao was.

 

“Maybe he’s ill,” said Tian.

 

“Maybe he went on holiday,” said Sozon. “I would, if I was him.”

 

“Bao on holiday?” said Made, leaning against the wall. “No way, he wouldn’t do it. I don’t think he ever takes holidays. I bet he had to go do something for the army.”

 

“Maybe he went to get some training on firebending,” said Azumi. “Or on how to shout at us better.” She was silent for a moment. “What do you think, Niyi? Lee?”

 

Niyi glanced at Zuko nervously, clearly waiting for him to lead. Zuko thought about what to say.

 

“Maybe he left and won’t come back,” he said after a beat. “He seemed pretty angry with the new teaching edict about peace.”

 

“If he left, I hope they get someone better,” said Niyi.

 

“Me too,” said Sozon.

 

The conversation was cut short at that point, as the whole class was summoned to the yard where the nonbending class took place. Silently, they filed into the yard.

 

“...Alright, class!” said the nonbending instructor, seeming sort of nervous. “As you all can see, today we’re being joined by the firebenders! For those who don’t know me, I’m Mr Yanjing. I hope you’ll all maintain your usual standards of discipline despite the change of schedule. Now, line up!”

 

“Yes sir!” shouted the class, and filed into line.

 

“Now, there won’t be any firebending today, understand?” said Mr Yanjing. “If I see any firebending, you’ll go straight to the headmaster’s office. We’re going to continue working with the practice swords. But first, a warm up! Remember, watch me closely!”

 

As Yanjing lead the group through the warm up, Zuko decided that he already liked this class much more than Bao’s firebending class. Yanjing seemed more easygoing and peaceful, somehow – despite being clearly very fit. And the warm-up exercises were at about the right level, too.

 

“Now, everybody take a practice sword from the barrels, then get back in line!” called Yanjing. They filed over to the barrels of wooden-bladed practice swords, and, slowly but surely, everybody picked one. Zuko tried a few once he got there, giving them each a small swing to test them until he found one that was well-balanced. He wasn’t going to be caught with a useless sword, even if he was just practising. Having found one he liked, he headed back into line.

 

“Now for katas!” said Yanjing. “If you don’t know the sword katas, follow my lead! Begin the first kata!”

 

“Yes, sir!” chorused the class, and set off into the flowing movement of the basic sword kata.

 

The moves were easy for Zuko, but he noticed the other firebenders were struggling. That was something else he needed to change: firebenders neglected other types of fighting far too often, which put them at a disadvantage in situations where it couldn’t be used, like times when they were in disguise, or when they didn’t want to give a much weaker opponent permanently scarring injuries. He frowned, thinking of his own scar.

 

After the katas, Yanjing got them to line up in two lines facing each other.

 

“Now for sparring!” he called. “Line one will remain where they are! Every two minutes, at my call, line two will step to their left and change partners! Does everybody understand?”

 

“Yes, sir!” they chorused.

 

“Then begin!” shouted Yanjing, and the clashing of swords began.

  
Zuko was starting out paired against Sozon. The other boy smiled at him nervously, then charged in with an attack. Zuko easily parried and returned the blow. As the two minutes went on, they sped up, Zuko keeping up easily, but Sozon having more and more difficulty. Zuko decided to keep it at a level where Sozon was finding it challenging but not overwhelming, and that was how they fought until Yanjing called for the partners to change. Zuko flashed Sozon what he hoped was a reassuring grin, and then moved onto his next partner, Made.

 

“Ready to fight, Lee?” said Made, grinning.

 

“Yes,” said Zuko. The two teens circled around each other, both watching for an opportunity.

 

After a minute of circling, Made finally made a move. He was fast, but so was Zuko, who parried and countered. Made parried in return, and then attacked again. The rest of the time was spent in a blur. Neither managed to get a blow in, and Zuko actually felt challenged.

 

“I’m impressed,” he said before he moved on to the next partner.

 

“Thanks,” said Made. “I worked hard to get this good.”

 

Zuko’s next sparring partner was a girl he didn’t know, though the person on her other side was Niyi. As he was sizing up the girl, he noticed that Niyi was looking nervous, and kept glancing back and forth between Zuko and her own sparring partner, a tall, burly boy that Zuko recognised from the firebending class. He smiled at Niyi, hopefully reassuringly, and then focused his attention on his own partner. She wasn’t very confident, so they ended up slowly circling, with Zuko easily parrying and offering his own not very challenging blows in return.

 

Next to him, Niyi was holding her own, despite the relentless rain of blows from her taller opponent – but then suddenly there was a flash of fire and Niyi was scrambling sideways to avoid it. Yanjing was watching the other end of the line, and hadn’t seen it yet. Niyi’s opponent gathered more flames to his hand, preparing to blast Niyi again. He swung his sword at the same time, and Zuko saw it: the blast would be too strong, and Niyi wasn’t going to be able to dodge the flames.

 

He leapt across, leaving his own partner behind, landing between Niyi and her opponent, and performed a block, the fire blast dissipating harmlessly. The boy’s eyes narrowed, but Niyi looked at Zuko gratefully.

 

“What’s going on here, Honru?” said Yanjing, approaching suddenly.

 

“Sir!” said the boy, who was apparently called Honru. “He just jumped over and interfered in our sparring for no reason!”

 

“Is this true?” Yanjing asked Zuko.

 

“Sir, he used firebending, in spite of your orders!” said Zuko. “Niyi was about to get burned! It was my duty as a bender to stop that from happening.”

 

“It’s true, sir!” said Niyi. “I would’ve been burned for sure if it wasn’t for L- Lee!”

 

“I wondered where he went, but then I saw all the fire Honru shot,” added the girl Zuko’d been sparring with, backing him up. “Lee blocked it like it was nothing!”

 

“I see,” said Yanjing. “Honru, headmaster’s office, now! And I’ll be checking that you made it there!” Honru threw his sword on the ground and stomped in the direction of the office.

 

“And Lee,” said Yanjing, his eyes flicking to Zuko’s scar. “It’s good that Niyi didn’t get burned, but perhaps alert me next time?”

 

“If there’s time,” said Zuko. “Sir.”

 

“Good,” said Yanjing. “No more firebending today, please, everyone! Now, move on to your next partners!”

 

The rest of the class passed relatively uneventfully, thankfully. Niyi was up against Zuko after that, and he went easier on her, which gave her nerves a chance to recover. Her next partner was much more gentle and less skilled, so that was good, too. Zuko continued to do well against pretty much everyone, though there were one or two who were especially talented. He was satisfied with this class, he decided. He could rely on Yanjing to help him bring about his new vision for the Fire Nation.

 

“Thanks, Lee,” said Niyi at lunch. “Honru’s a jerk. He’s always looking for excuses to pick on me.”

 

“No problem,” said Zuko. “I couldn’t let him burn you.” He rubbed his scar. “I do sort of know how that feels,” he added.

 

“Where did you get your scar, anyway?” asked Azumi. Zuko froze, and so did Niyi.

 

“You can’t just ask that, Azumi!” said Made.

 

“Yeah, he clearly doesn’t want to talk about it,” said Tian. “Anyway, I bet he got it from doing something really brave.”

 

“I don’t want to talk about it,” said Zuko.

 

“Aww, come on,” said Azumi. “We’re not gonna judge you...”

 

“I said no!” shouted Zuko, startling everyone.

 

“So, what did you firebenders think of sword fighting?” asked Niyi, clearly trying to change the subject. Zuko flashed her a grateful smile. And for the rest of lunch, nobody asked Zuko about his scar again.

 

Mrs Fu was clearly in a bad mood when she arrived to teach them history that afternoon.

 

“I had a lesson all planned out,” she said, after she’d greeted them, “but now I’ve got this letter from the palace, I’m going to have to change everything. So you better all be grateful for the hard work I’m doing.”

 

“Yes, ma’am,” the class chorused. Good, Zuko thought. His new edict had arrived. Now to see how Mrs Fu taught it.

 

“This letter,” said Fu, “is an edict from Fire Lord Zuko commanding that the next lesson taught is about the Avatar, and correcting some apparent misconceptions about him that were spread under Fire Lord Ozai. So we begin. Who can tell me something they already think they know about the Avatar?”

 

Pinu raised his hand.

  
“Yes, Pinu?” said Fu.

 

“The Avatar is ten foot tall, and slaughters armies, ma’am,” said Pinu. “If you ever meet him, you should run away very fast.”

 

“Anyone else?” asked Fu.

 

Someone Zuko didn’t know raised their hand. “The Avatar is a force of nature, not even a person,” they said. “There’s loads of glowy stuff everywhere, and that’s when you should run!” Zuko frowned. It was a good thing he’d made this edict, because these kids clearly knew nothing.

 

Another person raised their hand, and their opinion was: “He is a person, but he’s a deadly warrior and he kills everyone he disagrees with!”

 

The worst thing, Zuko decided, was that Fu actually seemed _pleased_ that everyone had come up with such bad descriptions.

 

“Now, class,” she said, “you’d think the Avatar would be one of those things. But it’s my duty to inform you that the Fire Lord says you are all wrong. Here is the Fire Lord’s description of the Avatar.” She switched to a flat, deadpan voice and continued. “The Avatar is a human who can bend all four elements. They reincarnate into different nations in each lifetime, on a cycle of water, then earth, then fire, then air. The current Avatar is an Air Nomad named Aang, who is a twelve year old boy, and survived the death of the Air Nomads by freezing himself in an iceberg for a hundred years. He is very friendly, and as long as you are not doing anything to disturb the balance of the world, he will probably not fight you. Even if he does fight you, when he defeats you he will probably not kill you, since he did not even kill Fire Lord Ozai, instead taking away his bending and imprisoning him.” She paused for a moment to let that sink in, then returned to her normal voice. “Reading it like this, I wonder how the Avatar managed to do anything at all,” said Fu. “A twelve year old kid? Who won’t even kill anyone? Perhaps he was just the figurehead, and somebody else did the fighting for him. Now, any questions before I move on?”

 

Zuko quietly blew steam from his nose. She’d taken his perfectly reasonable edict and presented it in the most boring and unbelievable way possible!

 

“Do you have a question, Lee?” Fu asked, looking at him pointedly.

 

“How can you say all that about the Avatar!?” he said, standing up. “You think the Avatar is weak just because he’s twelve and won’t kill? If he was here to hear you say that you would be cowering in the corner by now! He acts like a kid, but you couldn’t fight his left toenail!”

 

“Lee,” said Fu, “the Avatar is twelve. And an Air Nomad. I’d be surprised if he can fight a komodo-chicken. Sit down and stop making things up.”

 

“You’re the one making things up,” said Zuko. “I met him!”

 

“Headmaster’s office, Lee,” said Fu, “for telling lies and arguing with a teacher. Now.” Zuko shot her a dirty look, and marched out of the room. He might have gone a bit over the top there, he realised. Well, at least he’d had the presence of mind not to call the Avatar ‘Aang’ or say that he’d been his firebending teacher. And he couldn’t have let the lesson stand the way it had been. At least now the class had something to think about.

 

When he reached the headmaster’s office, Zuko realised that Honru was still there after the incident earlier in the day. He looked up as Zuko approached.

 

“Oh,” said Honru, “it’s you. What’re you here for? Probably interfering in somebody’s business again.” Zuko ignored him and sat down at the opposite end of the row.

 

“Hey, don’t ignore me!” Honru continued. “You stuck-up-”

 

“What is going on out here?” said Yuon, sticking his head out of his office. Honru promptly shut up. “Ah, Lee,” said Yuon. “Back again, I see. Come in.” Zuko followed him into the office.

 

“I’m very disappointed that you’re back here after only a week,” said Yuon. “Now, tell me what the reason is this time.”

 

“Well, I’m very disappointed that Mrs Fu can’t even teach about the Avatar without making him sound like a komodo-chicken!” said Zuko.

 

Yuon stared at him.

 

“Sir,” Zuko added reluctantly.

 

“Now, Lee, I’m sure that Mrs Fu has set the tone of her lesson appropriately,” Yuon said. “If she believes the Avatar to be a komodo-chicken, perhaps the Avatar is a komodo-chicken.”

 

“With all due respect, _sir_ ,” said Zuko, “the Avatar is one of the bravest people I have ever met. And I won’t sit back and let people talk about him like she was.”

 

“Lee, I can see you have strong feelings on this,” said Yuon. “Very well. We can talk it over some more when your parents arrive after school.”

 

“Fine,” said Zuko, “sir.” He went to sit on the chair outside the office again.

 

“The Avatar is a komodo-chicken, huh?” said Honru. “I thought he was a ten-foot tall demon spirit.”

 

“He is not,” said Zuko. “Either of those things. He’s a kid. A talented, brave, warm-hearted kid.”

 

“So I could beat him in a fight, then?” said Honru.

 

“No,” said Zuko.

 

“I beat your girlfriend in a fight,” said Honru. “Or, I would’ve if you didn’t jump in the way.”

 

Zuko stared at him blankly for a moment, wondering when Honru had met Mai and how he had ever convinced himself that being eviscerated by knives counted as winning. Then he realised the other teen meant Niyi.

 

“She’s not my girlfriend,” said Zuko.

 

“Whatever,” said Honru.

 

It was a very awkward afternoon after that, with both teens sitting in silence, Honru occasionally trying to goad Zuko into saying something, and Zuko glaring at him. Zuko was pretty relieved when Meelon finally showed up at the end of the day, and, after Fu and Yuon gave him another lecture about disrespecting teachers, he was finally able to go back to the house, leaving just as Honru was called in, with a woman who was presumably his mother.

 

The next day was normal for school, though Fu was glaring at him a lot again. Zuko made an effort to keep a lid on his temper, since he wasn’t going to be staying for too many more days. He’d learned a lot about what needed to be done with the schools, at least, if the others were much like this one – and since most of them probably hadn’t changed their teachers since Ozai’s reign, they probably would be. He was going to have to create some kind of inspectors, Zuko decided, to look at all the schools and check they were complying. There would be many teachers like Fu and Bao, who deliberately twisted his well-intentioned words, and he needed to root them out.

 

He was walking back to the house in the evening – he’d told Meelon he could head to the market, saying he could handle himself – when, as he headed into an alley for a shortcut, Honru appeared in front of him.

 

“Honru?” asked Zuko. “Why are you here? Didn’t you just leave school with your mother?”

 

“Oh, I slipped away from her easy,” said Honru. “She thinks I’m the greatest kid alive. Long as I go buy her something after, she’ll think I spent the whole time at some shop.”

 

“So you’re cornering me in an alley and lying to your mother,” said Zuko.

 

“What’re you gonna do about it, Lee?” sneered Honru. “You stopped me from getting what I wanted. So now I’m gonna kick your butt.”

 

“You’re gonna kick MY butt?” asked Zuko, settling into a ready stance. “That’s what you think?”

 

“I saw you in firebending class, loser,” said Honru. “You’re not even that good.” And he lunged, blasting fire from his hands.

 

Quickly, Zuko stepped out the way. Honru was aggressive, it was true, but his footing was poor and so was his aim. “That’s the best you can do?” he said. “Bao’s teaching must be terrible!”

 

“That’s my uncle you’re talking about!” shouted Honru, blasting more fire at Zuko. Zuko blocked it easily.

 

“Your uncle? So being a hippo-cow is a family trait?”

 

“You’re dead, Lee!” said Honru, and flung himself into attacking again. Zuko dodged and blocked, the pair moving round in circles, with Honru getting more and more frustrated. Zuko supposed he should end it before he got too bored – he clearly outclassed Honru in every way.

After the next block, he countered with a sweeping fire kick, finally using his full skill and ability rather than holding back. Honru staggered back under the force of the blow, using all his effort to block it. Zuko followed up with another blow, and another, and another. Now it was him who was pushing Honru back, and Honru was clearly getting tired. He turned up the intensity, making Honru sweat. Finally, he forced Honru to the ground.

 

“What’s going on here?” came a voice from the end of the alleyway. Zuko turned, making sure he could still see Honru. Great. The guards had arrived.

 

“This man attacked me!” shouted Honru from the ground, pointing up at Zuko.

 

“He attacked me first!” shouted Zuko. “Arrest him!”

 

“I think we’ll arrest both of you, for causing a scene,” said the guard. “A night in the cells should settle you down.” Oh, yeah, Zuko remembered. He wasn’t exactly dressed like the Fire Lord right now. Well, he’d clear it up once they got to the guard station, he decided. No need to let everyone who’d heard know that the Fire Lord had got in a fight with a teenager. Plus, he was still supposed to be in disguise.

 

Stiffly, he allowed the guards to put the chains on him. Honru was looking at him dirtily, like it was somehow Zuko’s fault that they had both gotten arrested. Zuko just closed his eyes, breathing deeply. He could take his frustration out on something later.

 

After an awkward walk, they arrived at the guard station, and Zuko and Honru were put into separate cells, and released from the chains.

 

“Staying there until the morning should cool you both off,” said the head guard. “Anyone we should be letting know that they won’t be seeing you tonight?”

 

“You can’t do this!” shouted Honru. “I did nothing wrong! My mother will be worried!”

 

“Your mother, right,” said the guard. “Does she have a name and an address!”

 

“Her name’s Lian,” said Honru reluctantly, and recited an address.

 

“Very good,” said the guard. She looked at Zuko. “And you?” Zuko thought for a moment how best to handle this. He still had his royal seal, but even though it was supposed to be proof of identity by itself, knowing his luck there was a decent chance he’d be accused of stealing it.

 

He pulled himself up to his full height. “Go to the house with the phoenix door knocker on High Rock Lane, and ask for Captain Meelon.”

 

“Alright, now we’re getting somewhere,” she said. “I’ll be back soon. All these guards can firebend, so don’t try anything.” She walked out of the station.

 

“You’re sure that’s the right address, boy?” said an elderly guard, looking at Zuko contemplatively. “If the Captain gets back and it’s not, there’ll be trouble.”

 

“Of course it’s the right address!” shouted Zuko.

 

“You’re sure you didn’t mean High Clay Lane or something?” asked the guard. “I could swear I remember Fire Lord Azulon visiting that house on High Rock Lane twenty years ago...”

 

“Maybe he did,” said Zuko. “It’s the right house.”

“If you’re sure...” said the old guard, rubbing his beard.

 

“I thought your father was called Minzu, not Meelon,” said Honru from the cell opposite, sneering. “And there’s no way someone as pathetic as you would ever live in a house that the Fire Lord stayed in. You must’ve got lucky. I’m the best firebender in the class.”

 

“Seriously?” said Zuko. “Shut up before you say something that gets you in more trouble.”

 

“Why? What’re you gonna do from over there?” Honru taunted.

 

“Cool it, kid,” said the old guard. “Captain’ll be back soon. Don’t make me come over there.”

 

A while and a long awkward silence later, the captain walked back through the guard station door, Meelon following behind her in his full royal guard uniform.

 

“This is most unusual, Captain,” said the captain. “You’re telling me I have to let this boy go? He’s, what, your son or something? Maybe your nephew? He was still fighting in the street. You might be a royal guard, but I’m going to need some sort of reason.”

 

“Yes, you’ve got to let him go,” said Meelon. “Just a moment.” He walked over to Zuko’s cell. “How do you want to play this, my lord?” he whispered. “We can tell them who you are, or we can make up a story for them if you prefer. I brought the documents for both those things.”

 

“Let’s tell them who I am,” whispered Zuko. “I want to see the look on Honru’s face when he realises he tried to beat up the Fire Lord.”

 

“You have your seal, my lord?” Meelon whispered. “I brought the crown.”

 

“Always,” said Zuko, fishing it out of its pouch and enclosing it in his hand.

 

“You need to let him go, Captain,” said Meelon, “because this is Fire Lord Zuko himself. I’m in town to act as his personal guard.” There was an intake of breath from around the station.

 

“He’s WHAT!?” shouted Honru, bursting into laughter. “In those clothes?”

 

“I hesitate to question your orders,” said the captain, “but the prisoner does have a point. You have proof that this is the Fire Lord? Security is very important.”

 

“Naturally,” said Meelon, pulling out a sealed and signed parchment that Zuko had prepared in advance of the trip, a copy of the sketch of Zuko that had been sent to the official portrait artists, and showed it to the captain.

 

“Hmm,” said the captain. “This does look official, Captain. I’ll need to see the seal, of course. Just in case the Fire Lord has an identical twin.”

 

“It’s right here,” said Zuko, with the ring now on his finger. “Now hurry up and let me out of this cell!”

 

“Certainly, my lord!” said the Captain, nodding, suddenly looking rather pale. She hurried to unlock the door. “My apologies for arresting you in the first place, sir. Had I realised who you were, I would never have done it. Please, have mercy on us.” Zuko stepped out of the cell, keeping his posture regal.

 

Meanwhile, Meelon had taken out the crown. Zuko stopped and knelt in front of him, allowing the guard to fix the crown into his hair. Then he stood up.

 

“It’s not like you knew who I was,” said Zuko to the guard captain. “I was in disguise. If I had been a normal citizen, of course you should have arrested me. I was fighting in the street!”

 

“...Of course, sir!” said the captain, hesitantly.

 

“You’re all forgiven. Just don’t reveal my presence in town. Honru here, on the other hand...” Zuko narrowed his eyes, and strode towards the boy’s cell. All the bravery had drained out of the other boy, who’d gone pale and was quaking in his boots.

 

“…You’re really the Fire Lord, Lee? What were you doing at our school?”

 

“That’s my business, Honru,” said Zuko. “And that’s ‘my lord’ or Fire Lord Zuko to you, not Lee.”

 

“...I’m not in trouble, am I, my lord?” asked Honru. “I didn’t know it was you! No wonder you beat me!”

 

“You’re in a lot of trouble, Honru,” said Zuko. “You attacked the Fire Lord. Your uncle, Mr Bao, is already in prison for treachery.”

 

“That’s where Uncle went!?” shouted Honru. “And _Mr_ Bao? He’s a lieutenant!” Zuko looked at him.

 

“Uh, I mean, how come my uncle is in prison, Fire Lord Zuko?” Honru corrected himself. “He’s a loyal citizen. And a lieutenant.”

 

“I demoted Mr Bao myself when I discovered him joining a plot to overthrow me,” said Zuko coldly. “He’s a warmonger and a traitor.” He took a moment to pause, looking Honru in the eyes. “Kneel.” Honru knelt.

 

“You’re angry at something, Honru,” said Zuko, “but you can still change. I did.”

 

“My lord?” asked Honru tentatively.

 

“I used to want nothing more than to capture the Avatar and regain my honor. But I finally realised I had it all along.” Zuko paused again. “Fortunately for you, you didn’t know who I was when you attacked me. If you had, you’d be joining your uncle. But since you didn’t, I’m just going to leave you here for a week after I leave town,” said Zuko. “And if I ever hear word of you attacking Niyi or any other innocent victim again, I won’t be lenient next time. Do you understand me?”

 

“...yes, my lord,” said Honru, looking defeated.

 

“Good,” said Zuko. He walked away from the cell, and turned back to the assembled guards. “Remember,” he said, removing his crown from his hair and stowing it in a pocket, “do NOT let anyone know I’m here. If you see me in town, call me Lee. That’s an order.”

 

“Yes, sir!” the guards chorused. Zuko gestured to Meelon, and the pair walked back out onto the street, with Zuko once more looking like an ordinary citizen.

 

As he walked back – after assuring Meelon that he was unharmed – Zuko thought about what he wanted to accomplish during the three days he had left as a student at the school. He already knew what he thought of the teachers, and he’d had time to see all of the main issues. He decided he’d just try to relax, talk to Niyi and her friends, and see whether anything else came up. Oh, and he was going to write an edict that all educational edicts needed to be read out to students, to help prevent his words from getting twisted so much. That seemed like a good idea.

 

After he wrote the edict and sent it to Mai, he went to blow off the rest of his frustration by practising his firebending in the courtyard. It felt good to imagine he was blasting fire at Honru’s face.

 

The next morning, he went back to school. Calligraphy and maths were as boring as ever, with Fu still giving him the eye, and his new edict hadn’t arrived yet.

 

“Hey, Lee! What are you doing here?” asked Azumi at break. “My dad said he saw you get dragged off by guards after fighting Honru in an alley.”

 

“You did what!?” asked Made. “Man, I wish I’d done that. That guy sucks.”

 

“They let me go once they realised it was Honru who attacked me,” said Zuko. “I just defended myself.”

 

“So, um, where is Honru now?” asked Niyi hesitantly.

 

“He’s in jail for at least a week for starting fights in the street,” said Zuko.

 

“He got a week for that? Wow,” said Sozon. “You don’t even look hurt.”

 

“Yeah, last time he fought someone outside school, he just got thrown in for, like, two days, and he burned their arm, too,” said Tian. “It’s cause Lieutenant Bao is his uncle.”

 

“Maybe his uncle isn’t too popular any more,” said Zuko.

 

“Honru’s such a bully,” said Niyi. “I hope he doesn’t bully me worse after...”

 

“He won’t,” said Zuko. “If he does, Niyi, let me know and I’ll deal with it.”

  
“Really? Thank you, m-Lee,” said Niyi gratefully, looking astounded.

 

“What’s Lee gonna do? Fight him again?” asked Made.

 

“He is pretty good at firebending,” said Sozon. “He even taught me how to do it better, and you know I’m terrible at it.”

 

“Yeah, but then they’ll both just get arrested again,” said Made. “You don’t need that on your record, Lee. Arrested not once, but twice!”

 

“I’ll be fine,” said Zuko. “I’m not gonna let him just bully anyone he wants.”

 

“You’re so brave,” said Azumi. Zuko blushed a little.

 

“It’s no big deal,” he said.

 

Without Honru, the nonbending class passed without trouble, with Zuko doing his best to bring up the general standard of swordsmanship. He managed to keep his temper through history and geography, and he made it to another music lesson. Mr Kaizo had picked a more interesting song this time, though still one that wasn’t seen as political, so the music lesson was actually sort of enjoyable. Not that he’d ever admit that to Uncle.

 

The next couple of days were equally quiet. Zuko held his temper through all the lessons, or at least mostly, and was beginning to actually enjoy spending time with the other students. His new edict arrived on the morning of the last day of the week, the last day he planned to spend in the school, and Mrs Fu once again read it out in the flattest voice she could manage. Zuko consoled himself with thoughts of getting her fired.

 

At break, he pulled Niyi aside. “Niyi, this is my last day here as a student,” he explained to her, after checking nobody else was listening. “I’m going to be in town for another week, but after that, I’m going back to the palace. Can you tell the others my father decided this wasn’t the right school for me after all, or something?”

 

“Of course, m-Lee!” Niyi whispered hastily. “Uh, what should I do when Honru comes back? I don’t really have a messenger hawk...” Zuko thought for a moment.

 

“You know where my house here is, right?” he asked. Niyi nodded. “Go to my house and ask Ruji to lend you a messenger hawk. I’ll tell her it’s ok. She’ll even give you a seal to use to make sure it comes straight to me instead of some advisor. Message me if you need any help with anything else, too, alright?”

 

“Thanks,” said Niyi. She glanced about, checking there was still nobody listening, then lowered her voice even more. “You’re the best Fire Lord ever,” she said.

 

“Uh, thanks, Niyi,” said Zuko, blushing. “Though, it’s not like we had high standards recently, between my father and my sister...”

 

“Um, if you say so,” said Niyi. “I don’t think I’m allowed to say anything bad about them...”

 

“Trust me, there’s a lot wrong with them,” said Zuko. “You know, maybe I should loosen the laws about criticism. Not too much, of course. I don’t want ‘The Boy In The Iceberg’ showing everywhere.”

 

“Uh, right, of course,” said Niyi. Zuko decided to take pity on her.

 

“That’s all I wanted to tell you, anyway,” said Zuko. “Let’s go join the others.”

 

“Right,” said Niyi. “Um, thanks again.”

 

“It’s no problem,” said Zuko. “I’m just doing what’s honorable.”

 

“Of course, m-Lee,” said Niyi.

 

After school was over, Zuko and Meelon headed to Headmaster Yuon’s office to withdraw Zuko from the school, and deliver Yuon some hard truths.

 

“Lee!” said Yuon, looking surprised. “Ah, did somebody send you here again? You know, I hope this nasty business with Honru wasn’t anything to do with you. Did you hear? He’s in jail for a week! And such a nice young man, too...”

 

“Honru’s mess is his own doing,” said Zuko. Yuon looked at him expectantly. Zuko looked back.

 

“Ah, I think you forgot to say something there, Lee,” said Yuon.

 

“No, I didn’t,” said Zuko. Yuon’s face turned affronted.

 

“Young man, you are being highly disrespectful right now!” said Yuon. “I’ve seen you multiple times in two weeks! If you don’t shape up, maybe you should consider if you’re right for this school.”

 

“Actually,” said Meelon, “we came here to withdraw Lee from the school, given the terrible educational policies of several of the teachers.”

 

“Then it looks like we’re in agreement. Consider yourself withdrawn,” said Yuon, narrowing his eyes.

 

“Good,” said Zuko. He steepled his fingers, leaning forward across the table, staring back at Yuon.

 

“Why are you still here?” said Yuon. “You’re withdrawn! Dismissed!”

 

“Well, I’m giving you the results of the surprise inspection,” said Zuko, leaning back in his chair and stretching out his arms.

 

“The what?!” shouted Yuon, finally losing his cool. “You’re a teenager, Lee, and an arrogant and disrespectful one at that. You’re not inspecting anyone.”

 

“Aren’t I?” said Zuko. He gestured to Meelon, who pulled a sealed parchment, stamped with the Fire Lord’s seal and addressed to Headmaster Yuon of the Eastern Fire Academy, out of his satchel, and dropped it on the desk. As he recognised the seal, Yuon’s eyes went wide.

 

The headmaster carefully broke the seal, and read the message, his eyes somehow getting even wider. “This is from the Fire Lord himself authorising you two as school inspectors!”

 

“Yes, I was there when the Fire Lord wrote it,” said Zuko, who had, of course, written it himself that morning.

 

“It says… it says that Lee’s the chief inspector! And that you’re authorised to fire teachers!” said Yuon, clearly in shock.

 

“That’s right,” said Zuko. “Now, here’s what I have to say.” He paused for a moment to make sure Yuon was listening, and then looked the headmaster right in the eyes.

 

“Teachers at this school repeatedly subverted or ignored the Fire Lord’s educational edicts!” Zuko began. “The lessons themselves are boring and repetitive. Even in the highest classes, the students are not taught to a high level. I would rather burn off the other side of my face than have to spend one year in this school as it is right now.”

 

“Surely… surely there must have been something good you found, inspectors?” asked Yuon timidly.

 

“The music teacher and the nonbending teacher, though both could have done with getting the students to a higher level by now,” said Zuko. “But at least they had the right attitude. I haven’t inspected the teachers from the lower classes yet.” He sighed as he looked at the headmaster, breathing out a puff of steam. “Under your leadership, this school is not going the way the Fire Lord wants,” Zuko continued. “You’re fired. Also, Mrs Fu is fired. We’ll find the replacements, not you.”

 

“You’re firing me?!” cried Yuon, bursting into tears. “This school is my life!”

 

“You’re surprised after that speech you gave me about the edict!?” shouted Zuko. “And you called the Avatar a komodo-chicken!” He put his head in his hand. “Get your things together and leave, Yuon,” he continued. “We’ll announce what happened to the school for you after the weekend.”

 

“My life is ruined...” sobbed Yuon, starting to gather the things on his desk. Zuko turned on his heel and strode out, leaving Meelon to hurry after him.

 

-

 

Zuko spent the next couple of days writing up an edict making it clear that dancing was allowed and sending it to Mai, deciding what to do with Bao and Ruon, practising firebending in the courtyard, and spending time in the town with Niyi and her friends. He decided to ship the two traitors to a holding prison closer to the capital, and try them properly with the presence of his advisors once he’d had time to arrest the other co-conspirators. Whatever happened, he decided, he wasn’t going to go easy on them.

 

On Monday morning, he put on a set of clothes that were nice enough to make him look like a medium-ranking noble, and headed to the school again, about an hour before the start time. Finding the room where the teachers usually had their pre-school meeting, he sat down in the chair at the head of the table, putting a sealed notice similar to the one he’d given Yuon in front of him on the table. Then he waited for the teachers to arrive.

 

Mrs Fu was the first teacher to arrive. “Lee? What are you doing here, you disrespectful boy!? You’re not allowed in this room!”

 

“Actually,” said Zuko, leaning back, “I have orders from the Fire Lord himself.” He picked up the sealed parchment on the desk and waved it.

 

“...the Fire Lord himself?” asked Fu hesitantly. “Why would the Fire Lord give you orders? And… why are you dressed like a noble?” Zuko could almost hear the cogs turning in her brain.

 

“I am a noble,” he told her. “And when everyone’s here, you’ll find out why I’m here. Now sit down.” Mrs Fu glared at him, but she sat.

 

Slowly, the other teachers trickled into the room. The teachers for the other classes that hadn’t met Zuko before, he knew, would automatically see him as someone important because of his dress. He saw the eyes of Kaizo and Yanjing go wide as they saw him, but there were enough people in the room by that point that they didn’t say anything. Finally, about half an hour before classes would start, it looked like all the teachers had arrived.

 

“Is this everyone?” asked Zuko.

 

“Yes, uh… sir?” said one of the teachers Zuko didn’t know. “Uh, if I may be so bold… who are you and what are you doing here? And where is Headmaster Yuon?”

 

“Mr Yuon won’t be returning to the school,” said Zuko. A wave of murmuring spread around the room. Zuko paused, waiting for silence. When he got it, he continued. “I’ve been giving a surprise inspection of the school, by the authority of the Fire Lord himself.” He waved the parchment again. “Open it and read it if you like.” Yanjing tentatively took the parchment from Zuko’s outstretched hand.

 

“This is the unbroken seal of Fire Lord Zuko!” said Yanjing. “May I?” Zuko nodded. The nonbending teacher had clearly adjusted to Lee turning out to be more than expected much better than Fu, who looked to be quietly spluttering in the corner.

 

Yanjing broke the seal and unrolled the parchment, his eyes scanning the page. “This says, ‘I hereby grant Lord Lee the power to conduct an inspection of the Eastern Fire Academy according to the means he sees fit, including the ability to fire staff members if necessary. Signed, Fire Lord Zuko.’ It even includes a picture.” Yanjing turned the parchment around to show the other teachers, who all nodded slowly. Fu had now turned the colour of a tomato.

 

“How can this be?!” said Fu. “There’s no way it can really be from the Fire Lord...”

 

“Shut up and stop embarrassing yourself, Fu,” said one of the other teachers. “It seems everything is in order, sir. If you’d like to continue?”

 

“Thank you, Miss…?” said Zuko.

 

“Miss Toji, sir,” said the teacher. “I teach the second years.”

 

“Thank you, Miss Toji,” said Zuko. “Now. My report.” He paused again, and took a deep breath. “The school has been going in completely the wrong direction under Mr Yuon. I saw several examples of teachers ignoring the Fire Lord’s educational edicts and continuing to encourage of war. Also, students were often punished for tiny things that weren’t even their fault, or for disagreeing with the teacher at all! This is _not acceptable_.” The staffroom had gone deadly silent. You could have heard the petal of a lotus flower drop.

 

“Mr Yuon has been fired,” Zuko continued. “Mrs Fu, you are also fired. Please get your things and leave immediately.”

 

“Fired?!” Fu shouted, springing to her feet. “How can you fire me, you ungrateful -”

 

“Mrs Fu!” shouted Kaizo. “Please, calm down!”

 

“I will not! This, this boy claims to be a noble, claims to have met the Avatar, dared contradict my teaching, refused to accept correction – and now he thinks he can fire me?! I won’t have it!”

 

“You’re fired, so leave already!” Zuko shouted, standing up.

 

“You leave, Lee!” shouted Mrs Fu, as the room looked on with expressions of horror. “I bet you forged that document and stole those clothes!”

 

“That’s the seal of the Fire Lord himself, you idiot!” shouted Zuko, ears steaming. “Now get out before I make you!”

 

“Then make me! I bet you can’t even fight a baby!” shouted Fu. The other teachers hastily backed away. “You’re weak and pathetic, just like Fire Lord Zuko!”

 

Zuko swept his leg around in an angry flame kick, blasting fire at Fu. The teacher stumbled under the sudden intensity of the blast as she blocked it. She retaliated with a burst of flame of her own, but Zuko easily countered it and moved in behind her, wrapping his arms around hers and restraining her. She struggled against his grip, but she’d strongly underestimated him.

 

“Yanjing, get Minzu from outside, he’s my personal guard,” said Zuko. “Fu, you’re under arrest for disrespecting the Fire Lord and refusing to do as ordered!”

 

“…of course, sir!” said Yanjing, after a moment’s hesitation. “Right away!” He scurried out the room.

 

“You can’t do this to me!” said Fu. “When Bao’s back here, he’ll set you straight!”

 

“Mr Bao is already under arrest for treason,” said Zuko, trying to hold his arms steady against her wiggling. Another murmur went around the room as people took that in. “Choose your next words very carefully, Fu.”

 

“Why, you –” Fu sputtered. Fortunately for her, Yanjing chose that moment to return to the staffroom with Meelon.

 

“Sir, you called for me?” said Meelon.

  
“Captain, this woman is under arrest for refusing to leave after I fired her, and for repeatedly disrespecting the Fire Lord,” said Zuko. “Get her out of here so I can get on with this.”

 

“Of course, sir,” said Meelon, taking out some handcuffs and moving in to fit them onto Fu. Once Fu was in Meelon’s hands, Zuko stretched out his arms and shook them. It’d been tougher than it looked to keep hold of her for all that time. He watched, glaring, as Meelon dragged her out of the room.

 

“Sorry about that, everyone,” said Zuko, returning to stand behind his seat. “Anyway, what I wanted to say was, Kaizo and Yanjing are doing a good job, they can stay. Yanjing is the new headmaster for now, if he’s happy to do that and still teach nonbending.” He looked towards Yanjing, who nodded.

 

“Thank you, sir,” he said.

 

Zuko continued. “You all need to push the students more, because even at the highest class the level is too easy. You’ll need to hire some people to replace Yuon, Fu, and Bao, and I want to see everyone who didn’t teach me in here today for an interview when you get a break in your lessons. Dismissed.”

 

The teachers stood for a moment, some of them still processing what had happened, and then gradually trickled out of the room, heading to their classrooms for the first lesson. Zuko sat back down, and waited for people to show up to be interviewed.

 

By the end of the day, he’d fired two more teachers – a grumpy old man who was trying to be polite, but whose comments clearly showed he still wished _Azulon_ was on the throne, and a very dull man who was actually alright from the not-being-secretly-a-traitor point of view, but who was just so incredibly tedious and boring that Zuko figured that instead of learning, his classes were probably falling asleep. Luckily, both of them had left without a fight, since Meelon had already left with Fu. The other teachers were all fine.

 

He returned to the house and met up with Meelon, who showed him where he’d left Fu, away from where Bao and Ruon were being held. It turned out that Meelon had found another cell at the other end of the house.

 

“What do you have to say for yourself, Fu?” asked Zuko, safely on the other side of the bars.

 

“Let me go!” Fu shouted. “I did nothing wrong!”

 

“Oh, yeah?” said Zuko. “Did you forget about all the times when you ignored every word that came from the Fire Lord?”

 

“He doesn’t know what this nation needs,” said Fu. “Hanging around with that pathetic komodo-chicken Avatar… He’s gone soft.”

 

“Luckily for you, Fu,” said Zuko, a dangerous tone in his voice, “in spite of _your_ beliefs, you haven’t actually committed treason yet. Otherwise, we would be talking about you going away for a very long time.”

 

“What!? You can’t!” shouted Mrs Fu.

 

“I can, and I would,” said Zuko. “But luckily for you, you’ve only committed _verbal_ treason. So I think I’ll send you to prison for three months instead.”

 

“Three months?!” said Fu. “What about my family!?”

 

“You should have thought about them BEFORE you said those things,” Zuko said. “You should thank Agni it’s not longer.” He turned around and left the room.

 

Later that evening, he and Meelon took her down to the guard station. After hastily shushing the door guard, who recognised Zuko as the Fire Lord from his last visit, Zuko asked the guard to put her somewhere where Honru wouldn’t realise she was there, and explained the length and terms of her sentence. Then after she was out of earshot, he took out the list of the rest of the traitors that were conspiring with Ruon and Bao, and asked for assistance arresting them all the next day.

 

“I found this list in the basement of a house after I caught those two committing treason,” he explained to the guard captain. “Um, we should probably arrest them before they realise I broke in there and stole their secret plans.”

 

“Certainly, Fire Lord Zuko,” said the captain. “Sir, I’d recommend we leave those two behind for that,” she continued, gesturing subtly at a couple of the other guards. “I don’t think they’re, well, treasonous, exactly, unless you think they are,” she explained, “but they’re a bit too fond of the old regime, and I think they’re friends with some of the people on this list.”

  
“Hmm,” said Zuko, nodding. “We’ll leave somebody else, too. Then they won’t be here by themselves. And if that’s their opinion, don’t leave them alone with prisoners.”

 

“Of course, my lord,” said the captain. “Are you going to be joining us personally to bring them in?”

 

“No, just bring them here,” said Zuko, after thinking for a moment. “Put them away from the other prisoners, and I’ll get dressed up for you all.”

 

“Very good, my lord,” said the captain. “We’ll see you tomorrow, then.” Zuko nodded.

 

“Thanks for your help, Captain…?” he said.

 

“It’s Min Zu, sir,” she said.

 

“Min Zu,” said Zuko. “Got it.”

-

 

The next morning, Zuko got Meelon to drive him to the guard station in his carriage with the windows shut, dressed in the fanciest robes he’d brought, the crown pinned neatly in his hair. He wondered idly how the school was doing replacing all the teachers he’d fired, but decided it was probably fine. They could always give the students a couple of days off.

 

He checked nobody was watching before he got out – after all, the whole point was to not let all the random citizens know he was in town – and quickly hurried into the station, where he was met by the door guard, who, despite knowing who he was, still almost dropped his sword.

 

“M-my lord!” said the guard, scrambling into a bow.

 

“That’s me,” said Zuko. “Um, please rise. And let the captain know I’m here.”

 

“Right away, sir!” said the guard, rushing to his feet and hurrying towards the captain’s desk.

 

“Captain Min Zu,” Zuko said, once the captain arrived.

 

“Good to see you, Fire Lord Zuko,” Min Zu replied. “We’re all ready to move out. Just give us the word.”

 

“Good,” said Zuko. “I’ll wait at the desk by the cells at, er, that end and talk to each one as they come in. Start as soon as you want.”

 

“Yes, sir!” she said, and started directing the other guards. Zuko strode through the middle of them all, walking towards the end he’d pointed at.

 

“…Agni, you really are the Fire Lord!” said Honru as Zuko walked past his cell.

 

“...Yes?” said Zuko, staring at him. “Was that still a question for you?”

 

“Um,” Honru stammered, “I mean, um, it didn’t feel real before. Until I saw you with the robes and everything. My lord.”

 

“I’m arresting a bunch more people for treason today,” Zuko told him. “In the future, don’t let that be you.”

 

“Of course! I mean, no way! I mean, I think you’re doing a good job, my lord!” said Honru, tripping over his words in his nervousness. “You’re not at all weak like my uncle said.”

 

“Hmm,” said Zuko, and moved on to the corridor with the desk in it.

 

One by one, as the conspirators were captured, the guards brought them into the cells, and one by one, they each nearly keeled over in shock on seeing Zuko himself sitting there in full regalia. Zuko spoke to each one separately as they came in, and, with a lot of frustrating effort and shouting, eventually managed to determine that yes, they were all serious traitors, and no, they weren’t going to mention any co-conspirators they had.

 

“Is that all of them yet?” Zuko asked Min Zu late in the afternoon.

 

“One of them got away from us and evaded capture, sir,” she explained. “Zuhon the grocer. We caught all the others, my lord.” Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose.

 

“Put a wanted poster out for him,” said Zuko. “Bounty of… uh… two gold pieces to start. And, uh… thanks, Captain.”

  
“Just doing my duty, my lord,” Min Zu said. “I’ll get the poster up right away.”

 

“Right,” said Zuko. “I mean, good. Send these lot to me. To the Capitol, I mean. To the prison there, I mean. I want to judge them there. I’ll send the two I have at my house to you tomorrow for transport, too.”

 

“Uh, very good, my lord,” she said. “Is there anything else I can do for you?”

 

“Oh, uh, that’s everything, thanks,” said Zuko. “I’ll be going soon, anyway.”

 

“Thank you, sir,” the captain said. “My lord, whatever these people say, thanks to you my nephew is safe in school instead of out there fighting. So, you have supporters.”

 

“Good to know, Captain,” said Zuko, nodding. “I, uh, I appreciate it.” He stared at her for a moment, before realising she was waiting for him to leave first. “Oh, uh, dismissed,” he added. The captain bowed formally, and left the room. Zuko took a moment to gather the papers he’d been writing his evidence on, and then followed, walking back to his carriage.

 

“How’d it go, my lord?” asked Meelon, once Zuko had got in.

 

“Pretty good, I think,” said Zuko. “Only one of the traitors got away, and there’s a bounty on that guy now. So, I can make an example of the rest of them if I need to.”

 

“They’ll catch him, sir,” said Meelon.

 

“They better,” said Zuko. After that, they sat in silence until the carriage reached the house.

 

-

 

Zuko brought Bao and Ruon to the guard station the next morning, in disguise again as Lee this time, and then spent the rest of the morning wandering around the town, observing the locals, just in case he spotted something else that needed changing.

 

The town was in pretty good condition, he decided. It obviously hadn’t been near any hotspots in the war. The sewage system was obviously working, because his nose wasn’t getting offended. Most of the businesses were open and busy. It didn’t look like there was anything that needed changing right away.

 

“Hey, Lee!” somebody called. It took Zuko a moment to remember that was him. He looked up from the display of random knickknacks.

 

“Hi, Azumi,” he said. “What’re you doing here on a school day? I know I withdrew...”

 

“Oh, they didn’t find anyone to replace Mrs Fu yet, so we’re not in school this week,” she said. “I heard somebody came and inspected the whole place and fired a bunch of teachers. She must have loved that.” Azumi grinned broadly.

 

“Oh, uh, it’s a good thing I withdrew when I did, then,” said Zuko. “Where’s everyone else?”

 

“Just over there,” said Azumi. “Come join us? Or are you too busy looking at… uh… whatever this shop even sells?”

 

“Sure, I guess,” said Zuko, and followed her over to the group.

 

“Lee!” shouted Tian, as soon as she saw him. “We missed you! Where did you go?”

 

“He withdrew, Tian,” said Sozon. “When are you leaving town? I’ll miss you too! And your firebending teaching...”

 

“At the end of the week,” said Zuko. “My father decided this isn’t the town for us after all.”

 

“We’ll miss you, m-Lee,” said Niyi. “It was good having you around.”

 

“Who knows, maybe I’ll even visit some time,” said Zuko.

 

“You would!?” said Niyi. “Er, I mean, of course you would. If you’re not too busy. Right.”

 

“What’s up with you, Niyi?” asked Azumi. “You’ve been acting weird all week.”

 

“Well, er, it’s just, er...” Niyi looked worriedly between Zuko and Azumi. “Er… I’m just so glad they stopped hitting me in calligraphy! That’s why!” Azumi looked at her suspiciously.

 

“If you say so,” she said.

 

“Leave her alone, Azumi,” said Made. “Whatever it is, she clearly doesn’t want to tell us.”

 

“Fine,” said Azumi. “I’ll just find out later...”

 

“Let’s look round the market!” said Tian. “I want a cute necklace...”

 

“Eh, I guess we can do that,” said Made. “I was thinking about getting a new belt.” The rest of the group were soon agreeing.

 

“What do you think, Lee?” asked Niyi.

 

“About what?” said Zuko. Niyi looked at him strangely. “Oh, the market,” he continued. “I guess it wouldn’t be too bad.”

 

“We’re agreed, then!” said Tian. “Let’s go!”

 

The group headed over to the stalls. After they’d been browsing a while, Niyi came over to Zuko, away from the others.

  
“Sorry if I’m not supposed to ask this, uh, Lee,” she said cautiously, “but it was you who fired all the teachers, right?”

 

“It was,” said Zuko quietly, “and they really deserved it, trust me. I can’t believe what some of those hippo-cows said…”

 

“Really? Like what?” she asked.

 

“Mrs Fu was the worst one,” whispered Zuko. “I didn’t tell them I was me, I said I was Lord Lee and was granted the authority by me. And she didn’t believe I’d granted me the authority even though I had the parchment right there.”

 

“...Oh, wow,” said Niyi. “I’m sorry, F-Lee. That’s just… I know she’s a hippo-cow, but why did she even think that was a good idea!?”

 

“Shhh,” Zuko reminded her. “I don’t know. I had to get Meelon to drag her out of the room. Then she said some other stuff that was even worse, and I ended up arresting her for three months.”

 

“Oh, wow...” said Niyi, somehow looking impressed and worried at the same time. “...You’re not going to arrest any of us, are you?” she asked quietly.

 

“Not unless you’re planning to overthrow me and put my father on the throne,” whispered Zuko.

 

“Oh, good,” whispered Niyi, clearly relieved. “You’re much better than he was. I mean, if I’m allowed to say that. Am I allowed to say that?”

 

“It’s allowed,” Zuko whispered. “He’s not the Fire Lord any more...”

 

“What are you two whispering about over there?” said Azumi, suddenly approaching from across the street, holding a box of jewellery. Niyi looked between the two of them, startled.

  
“Uh… just stuff,” said Zuko.

 

“No, really! You can tell me!” said Azumi.

 

“It’s none of your business,” said Zuko.

 

“Yeah,” said Niyi, blushing.

 

“Oh, I see...” said Azumi. “It’s like that, is it?”

 

“Leave them alone, Azumi,” said Sozon, carrying his own shopping. “They can talk about whatever they want.”

 

“Alright, alright,” she said. “But I’m onto you!” Zuko shook his head, and as she walked away, facepalmed.

 

“Whatever she thought, it’s not that,” he explained to Sozon.

 

“I get it,” said Sozon. “She’s a bit much sometimes. But she’s a good friend, so I like having her around. And really, thanks for showing us that stuff about firebending that you did. I’m so much better now.”

 

“Well, I think the dragon would be mad at me if I let everyone firebend the way they’re doing now,” said Zuko, after checking no one else except Niyi would overhear.

 

“What? Dragon?” said Sozon. “Wait… aren’t they all dead?”

 

“That’s what they want you to think,” said Zuko, and walked over to a different stand.

 

-

 

The following day followed pretty much the same pattern, with Zuko looking around the town, and then meeting up with Niyi and her friends.

 

“Did you really learn firebending from a dragon, m-Lee?” whispered Niyi at one point.

 

“Don’t spread it around,” whispered Zuko, “but there were two of them.”

 

“Two–” Niyi started to say. “Two of them? Wow...”

 

Later, when they were back with the rest of the group, Zuko revealed the bad news.

 

“My, uh, father is making me leave town in two days,” he told them. “Tomorrow’s my last day in town.”

 

“Aww, we’ll miss you!” said Azumi.

 

“Hope you have a good life,” said Made.

 

“We should do something special to say goodbye,” said Tian. “Meet us in the square in the morning at the same time as today, and I’ll think of something!”

 

“Alright, fine,” said Zuko. “But if it’s a bad idea, I reserve the right to leave again.” Tian giggled.

 

“You’re funny, Lee,” she said. “We’ll see you then!”

 

-

 

It was with some trepidation that Zuko set off to the meeting point the next morning. Tian reminded him of Aang – she was very excitable, and prone to… interesting suggestions. Hopefully she’d have come up with something that was less torturous than wrestling an armadillo bear. Well, whatever it was, he thought, it couldn’t be worse than The Boy in the Iceberg.

 

“Lee!” she shouted, spotting him walking across the square. Nobody else was there yet.

 

“Um, hi, Tian,” said Zuko. “Where is everyone?”

 

“They didn’t get here yet,” she said. “But there’s something really cool! Once everyone’s here, I’ll show you.”

 

“What’s that even mean?” Zuko said. “What kind of something?” Tian giggled.

 

“You’ll see,” she said.

 

“I hate surprises,” Zuko mumbled.

  
“What?” said Tian.

 

“Uh, nothing,” said Zuko.

 

After that, Zuko attempted to wait quietly until the others arrived. Tian had other ideas and kept trying to talk to him, so he kept giving her one-word answers. Cheerful people were better when you had someone else to keep the conversation going.

 

“Cheer up, Lee,” she said at one point. “You don’t have to be so grumpy all the time. Even though you’re leaving, we don’t have to go to war, we’ve got a new, great Fire Lord – things are good now!”

  
“Uh, thanks,” he said. At least that was something. “You mean it? You think the new Fire Lord is great?”

 

“Yeah, he made much better laws already than the last ones!” she said. “Why, don’t you think he’s great?”

 

“Oh, uh, I guess he’s pretty great,” said Zuko. “The new laws and stuff are good.” He blushed slightly, and turned away a little to try to hide it.

 

It was at that moment that Azumi and Made showed up.

 

“Tian! And Lee!” said Azumi. “Are we all ready? What are we doing? I’m so excited!”

 

“It’s a surprise!” said Tian. “I’ll show you when the others get here.”

 

“Ooh! Tell me, tell me!” said Azumi. She looked between Tian and Zuko. “Wait, is Lee blushing? Do you know what the surprise is? Is it something good?”

 

“I don’t know what the surprise is,” said Zuko. “I hate surprises.”

 

“Hey, man, it’ll be fine,” said Made. “I’ve known Tian all my life, and she never brought us any bad surprises before.”

 

“I mean, if you really don’t wanna go, we don’t have to...” said Tian, looking sadly at Zuko.

 

“No, it’s fine. Whatever it is, I’ll go,” said Zuko. He breathed deeply in and out.

 

“Ok then, we’re still on! Fun surprise time!” she said. “I mean, as soon as Niyi and Sozon get here.”

 

“Great,” said Zuko.

 

The group chatted for a little while longer, and then Sozon turned up from one direction right as Niyi appeared in the other.

 

“Hi everyone!” said Sozon. “Sorry I’m late, I saw a pretty flower in the park and I forgot about the time...”

 

“It’s fine,” said Zuko.

 

“Oh no, oh no, I’m the last one!” said Niyi. “I’m so sorry, m-Lee – I mean, everyone!”

  
“Sozon only just got here,” said Tian. “Don’t worry! Anyway, now we can go! Come on!”

 

“Um… where are we going?” Niyi asked.

 

“Apparently, it’s a surprise,” said Zuko.

 

“Is that… m- I mean, Lee... uh, did you want a surprise?” asked Niyi.

 

“It’s fine,” said Zuko. “Let’s just go there.”

 

“It’s this way!” said Tian, starting walking towards the north side of the square.

 

After following her along a couple of streets and round a left corner, they found themselves in another square, where a large banner was hanging above a hastily-constructed stage. A crowd was gathering in front of it. On the stage, in front of several musicians, there was a speaker.

 

“What is this…?” asked Sozon quietly.

 

“You’ll see,” said Tian. Then the speaker rang a bell, and the crowd fell silent.

 

“As you may know,” shouted the speaker, “last night, messengers brought a new proclamation to the town from Fire Lord Zuko himself!” The crowd cheered, and Zuko blushed slightly. Was this the proclamation he thought it was? He’d sent a few to Mai over the last few days…

 

“If you haven’t heard yet,” the speaker continued, “the Fire Lord has officially proclaimed –”

 

The crowd cheered again, and the speaker paused for a moment, then tried again. “The Fire Lord has officially proclaimed that dancing is legal!” The crowd cheered again. “Legal in all its forms!” More cheers. “Not only is dancing legal, it’s encouraged! So I’m welcoming you to our first official dance party!” This time, the crowd cheered the loudest. Next to Zuko, Niyi winced slightly.

 

“Is it true?” she whispered to him, the noise of the crowd preventing anyone else from hearing. “You really legalised dancing? And not just the strict, boring kind?”

 

“It’s true,” whispered Zuko, as a lively sort of music started up from the stage, and the bolder people in the crowd started tapping their feet or swaying, hesitantly at first, as if trying it out. “...Tian’s going to make me join in, isn’t she?”

 

His nerves must have shown on his face, because Niyi whispered back, “Uh, probably, m-Lee. Sorry about that… We can make up some excuse if you don’t want to.”

 

“No, I should do it,” he said. “If I make changes, I need to stand by my decisions.”

 

“Alright,” said Niyi. “I mean, of course. I mean, whatever you want. Because you’re –” He quickly put his hand over her mouth.

 

“I’m in disguise, remember,” he whispered.

 

“Oh, yeah, sorry, m-Lee,” she said.

 

“Lee! Niyi!” said Tian, choosing that moment to bound over to them. “Come dance!” Zuko looked over to the dance square. More people were moving now, and it looked like they were starting to try things that were more lively, too. That reminded him, he should see if Aang knew any old dances. The kid was technically over a hundred.

 

“We’re ready, right?” Niyi asked him. He took a deep breath, in and out.

 

“We’re ready,” he said. “Let’s go.” He followed Tian to near the centre of the square, Niyi sticking close behind him. The others were already in a circle there, with Made and Azumi swaying and tapping their feet, and Sozon really getting into it, turning round, and really moving with the rhythm. Zuko couldn’t help but smile on seeing the happiness on their faces, and he started tapping his own feet. He could see Niyi copying him out of the corner of his eye. If copying him made her feel more comfortable, he supposed that was ok.

 

Tian, on the other hand, was just as lively as Sozon. She was stepping her feet in every direction, spinning around, and waving her arms in the air. Zuko supposed it did fit the rhythm.

 

A few songs later, and with Azumi and Made having started to dance more adventurously too, Sozon, Azumi and Made were starting to get exhausted, and Zuko could tell that Niyi was finding the noise level too high, so they made the decision to head towards the edge of the square and sit down for a minute. Tian somehow had more energy left, so carried on dancing, waving at the rest of them as they left. They sat slightly away from the crowd, finding a spot without any other people.

 

“That was so fun!” said Azumi. “I didn’t know I could move like that!”

 

“I know, right?” said Sozon. “Uh, don’t tell anyone. But when no-one was watching, I’ve been doing it secretly for years.”

 

“What did you think, Lee?” asked Niyi.

 

“Uh… well… I’m glad everyone had fun,” said Zuko. “I don’t think it’s for me, though.”

 

“It’s for everyone!” said Sozon, still grinning.

 

“You’ll get there,” said Made. “You just need to work through those old voices in your head from your old teachers, right? The ones that said, ‘No dancing! You’re a citizen of the Fire Nation!’”

 

“I guess,” said Zuko. He blushed slightly. “It just doesn’t feel dignified...”

 

“That’s the point!” said Sozon.

 

“You’re right,” said Zuko. He was supposed to be encouraging dancing, he remembered. “Maybe you can show me again later.”

 

It was then that Zuko noticed an unexpected face standing at the edge of the square.

 

“Honru…?” he whispered. “Isn’t he in…?” Honru chose that moment to look up, and locked eyes with Zuko. But instead of running away like Zuko expected, he strode quickly towards him.

 

“My lord!” said Honru, and Zuko winced. At least it looked like only his new group of friends was listening. “Uh, sorry to barge in on you like this. But it’s really important!”

 

“It better be, since you’re out of jail a week early,” said Zuko.

 

“My uncle escaped!” said Honru.

 

“He did w _hat?_ ” asked Zuko, dangerously.

 

“Uh… what does he mean ‘my lord’?” asked Azumi. Niyi looked at Zuko apologetically, even though it wasn’t her fault.

 

“Everyone come close,” Zuko sighed, digging in his pouch. “I don’t want everyone overhearing this.” They all gathered, even Honru.

 

“Nobody bow, nobody shout anything,” whispered Zuko. “My name isn’t actually Lee.”

 

“It… isn’t?” whispered Sozon.

 

“My name is actually Zuko,” he whispered, holding out his signet ring for them to see.

 

“As in… you have the same name as the Fire Lord?” whispered Made, looking confused.

 

“As in I am the Fire Lord,” whispered Zuko.

 

“You’re WHAT!?” shouted Azumi. Everyone turned to look.

 

“Azumi!” whispered Niyi. “He said no shouting!”

 

“We’re fine, I just found out who he was dating!” Azumi shouted for the benefit of the crowd. Zuko blushed.

 

“You’re really… the real Fire Lord?” whispered Sozon. He looked like he wanted to bow, but was just about remembering Zuko’s order not to.

 

“I am,” whispered Zuko. He carefully put the ring away.

 

“He is,” whispered Honru. “I found out when we got arrested for fighting and his personal guard showed up with the crown and got him let out of prison.”

 

“His scar matches the same as the Fire Lord’s scar at the coronation,” whispered Niyi. “I figured it out last week… well, actually, I guessed that he was his own twin, but I was nearly right...”

 

“Why are you, uh, here, uh, my lord?” whispered Made. “And not in the palace or something?”

 

“Keep calling me Lee for now, I’m still in disguise,” whispered Zuko. “And don’t tell anyone I was here. I came to inspect the school so I could see what needed changing. I don’t think the curriculum was the same in the palace as for the general public.”

 

“Oh, yeah, it wouldn’t be,” whispered Azumi. “I mean, my l – I mean, Lee. That’s a really good idea.”

 

“I’m glad you think so,” whispered Zuko.

 

“Are you gonna arrest me for dancing before you made it legal?” whispered Sozon, suddenly looking worried.

 

“No,” whispered Zuko. “The old rule was stupid anyway.”

 

“Oh, good,” whispered Sozon.

 

“Uh, m-Lee?” whispered Honru. “I said it was important...” He looked around worriedly.

 

“Oh, right,” whispered Zuko, his eyes narrowing. “How come you’re not in prison right now? And what’s this about an escape?”

 

“They made me escape, or they’d have fried me!” Honru whispered desperately. “I had to come and warn someone, so I headed towards the noise, and then I saw you!”

 

“Who made you escape?” whispered Zuko urgently.

 

“My uncle and that guy they brought him in with!” whispered Honru. “And a couple of the others, too!” Zuko pinched his nose, and breathed deeply, creating a puff of steam. The rest of the group watched with bated breath.

 

“What happened?” he whispered, more gently this time.

 

“The Captain and most of the guards were out taking the second lot of prisoners to the transport to take them to the bigger jail,” whispered Honru. “There were only four of that lot left in the jail. But there were only four guards left, too. And two of them were those ones I saw the Captain warn you about.” Zuko nodded, taking another steam-filled breath.

 

“Continue,” he whispered.

 

“Those two guards snuck up on the other two and knocked them out, and then they let those four prisoners out of jail,” whispered Honru. “Then they got my uncle to knock them out so it looked like it wasn’t them. And then he came over to my cell and said, ‘Look, it’s my nephew.’ Uh, I didn’t agree with this next bit, cause you’re not weak at all.”

 

“What did he say?” whispered Zuko, sighing.

 

Honru continued. “He said, ‘That weakling Fire Lord arrested you, too, huh? Let’s let him out of here.’ Then they opened the cell. He said, ‘Come on, boy, now’s your chance.’ But, uh, I know him and he wouldn’t have been happy if I chose to stay there. So we all ran out the jail. And my uncle said, ‘You can’t come with us, so just hide somewhere in town until the Fire Lord leaves.’ And I knew it would be a while before the rest of the guards came back, because it took them all morning with the first lot of prisoners. So then I ran, and then I ended up here.”

 

“Thank you, Honru,” whispered Zuko. “I appreciate you warning me and not running away. I’m still going to lock you up again afterwards, you understand?”

  
“Of course, m-Lee,” whispered Honru.

 

“Um… what did all those prisoners do?” whispered Sozon.

 

“They were plotting to overthrow me and put my father back on the throne,” whispered Zuko.

 

“Oh...” whispered Sozon. “I don’t want that.”

 

“Good, or I’d have to arrest you, too,” whispered Zuko. “Besides, my father would immediately ban dancing again.”

 

“What are we going to do?” whispered Azumi.

 

“We need a plan,” whispered Zuko. “Niyi, you know where my house is. It’s not far from here, remember?”

  
“Yes,” whispered Niyi.

 

“Go get Captain Meelon and tell him to meet us here,” Zuko commanded. “Tell him to bring my swords, and two extra swords, and that we’ve got four escaped traitors, and at least two are firebenders. And see if he has any weapons for you, too. Oh, and tell him we’re still in disguise, so he shouldn’t bring the shiny armour.”

 

“Yes sir!” whispered Niyi, and hurried off in the direction of Zuko’s house.

 

“Made, you’re good with swords,” whispered Zuko.

 

“I mean… I think?” whispered Made.

 

“You fought me to a standstill,” Zuko reminded him. “I wasn’t going easy on you. When Meelon gets here with the swords, you’re with me.”

 

“Yes, sir!” whispered Made. “You can count on me, sir.”

 

“Good,” whispered Zuko. “You too, Honru,” he said. “I beat you pretty badly, but you’re not actually terrible at firebending, I’m just a lot better.”

 

“Uh… right. Sir. Whatever you say,” whispered Honru. “What about these two? They’re kind of weak? Should they hide?”

 

“Hey!” whispered Azumi.

 

“Actually, they’re pretty good,” whispered Zuko. “But it’s up to them. Do you two feel up to fighting dangerous criminals?”

 

“I’ll do it!” whispered Azumi. “I don’t wanna have things go back to the old way...”

 

“Good,” whispered Zuko. “What about you, Sozon?”

 

“Well, I don’t really want to,” whispered Sozon, “but they’re threatening my dancing, right? And they’d make me go to war?”

 

“They won’t go easy on you,” whispered Zuko.

 

“I’ll come,” whispered Sozon. “I can be brave. But maybe I can be, uh, crowd control or something?”

 

“Hmm,” said Zuko. “Good plan. You can do that with Niyi.”

 

“Sir!” whispered Sozon, doing a tiny bow.

 

“No bowing for now, remember,” whispered Zuko.

 

“Oh, yeah,” whispered Sozon.

 

“Now, since they’ve got a head start on us anyway, we’ll wait until Niyi gets back to track them,” whispered Zuko. “Prepare yourselves.”

 

A few minutes of tense silence and occasional questions later, Niyi finally returned, with Meelon in tow in the guise of an ordinary town guard. He was carrying a pile of swords. Niyi was carrying a truncheon.

 

“Your swords, sir,” Meelon said once he’d approached.

 

“Thanks, Meelon,” said Zuko, carefully taking his own swords out of the pile, and strapping them to his back. “The other two are for Made there.” He pointed at Made. Meelon nodded and went to give Made the swords. “Oh, and everyone take some handcuffs.”

 

“Wow...” said Made. “These are much better than… I really get to use these?”

 

“Yes,” said Zuko. “Niyi, you and Sozon are on crowd control.”

 

“Oh, good,” said Niyi, looking slightly relieved. Zuko looked around, and noticed that the group had attracted the attention of several passers-by.

 

“What are you all doing with the swords instead of dancing?” asked one of them. Zuko gestured subtly to Meelon, indicating that he should answer.

 

“Don’t worry about it, it’s official guard business,” said Meelon.

 

“Ooh, is it exciting?” they asked.

 

“No,” said Meelon. He stared at the passers-by until they left again.

 

“Right,” said Zuko, “first, we need to figure out where they went. Hmm, we don’t have Jun the bounty hunter here, so we’ll need something else...”

 

“What if they’ve just escaped and left town already?” said Azumi.

 

“Then we’ll need someone who can track them,” said Zuko.

 

“I don’t think they left town,” said Honru.

 

“They didn’t?” Zuko asked, looking at him intensely. “What do you know?”

 

“Well, last night at the guard station,” said Honru, “the captain was talking about the new proclamation about the dancing, and was saying how good it was that people were finally gonna be able to open up. And even mentioned this party thing. And, well, my uncle kinda really hates dancing. He was always saying it turned perfectly good soldiers into weak, pathetic children who couldn’t follow orders. Except, uh, he usually swore more.”

 

“So he didn’t leave town because?” asked Zuko.

 

“Well, I don’t know for sure,” said Honru. “But when the guards were checking the other end of the prison, I overheard them talking about ‘punishing those wimps who think they can do dancing without any consequences’. So, I think they’re coming here.”

 

“Fine, then we’ll wait for them,” said Zuko. “If they don’t come, I know someone with a really good nose.”

 

“...a really good nose?” asked Azumi.

 

“Hey, they found my uncle when he was in the Earth Kingdom!” said Zuko. “It’s a good nose.”

 

“Uh, right,” said Azumi. “I mean, sorry.”

 

“Hmph,” said Zuko. “Anyway, everyone keep a lookout. But don’t make it obvious.” They all nodded, and casually turned to look in different directions around the square.

 

A few minutes later, Azumi said, “Hey, that’s Bao over there!” Zuko looked over, and saw that the disgraced former lieutenant was indeed strolling into the square, wearing fresh clothes and a hood.

  
“There’s those other two guys,” said Honru, jerking his head in the opposite direction.

 

“That guy looks pretty suspicious over there,” said Niyi, looking in a third direction. Zuko turned to look.

 

“That’s Ruon,” said Zuko. “He’s the last escapee. Everybody get ready.”

 

Ruon headed towards the stage, where the band was still playing, and shot a blast of fire right between the drummer and the pipa player, who stopped playing and screamed. The other band members played a few more beats, and then stopped. In the absence of the music, the crowd sputtered to a halt.

 

“People of the Fire Nation!” Ruon shouted, as the musicians scurried off the stage. “We have a long and glorious history! Why are you making yourselves weak by allowing yourselves to be corrupted with the foreign influence of dancing?”

 

“Honru and Azumi, you take Bao,” said Zuko quietly. Hopefully together they would be enough to match the older man. “Meelon and Made, take the other two. Niyi and Sozon, get the crowd away from here. I’m going after Ruon.” Everyone nodded, acknowledging his orders. Niyi was shaking like a leaf, but it looked like she was holding her nerve.

 

“Hey, dancing is fun!” someone shouted from the middle of the crowd. Ruon blasted more fire down at where the voice had come from, and everyone in that area hurriedly scrambled back.

 

“Dancing is dangerous!” he shouted. “Boys?” Down in the crowd, bursts of fire shot from Bao’s location and from one of the other two men. Zuko could see the last man swinging a sword. As the crowd scrambled further back, screaming wildly, Zuko raced around the edge of the square, leaping along a wall and somersaulting onto the stage and landing next to Ruon with his swords out.

  
“Hey!” he said. “Didn’t I already arrest you once?”

 

“You again!” said Ruon. “Go back to your palace, Pathetic Lord. Dancing? You’re so pathetic, they should call you Fire Lady.”

 

“You obviously haven’t met the same ladies as me,” said Zuko angrily, and leapt forward, throwing fire from his swords.

 

Back down on the ground, Made and Meelon had reached their targets, who were still causing chaos in the crowd. People were tripping over themselves trying to run away, and one woman lay on the ground, her arm burnt and her dress torn. The swordsman was standing over her, getting ready to attack her while she was down.

 

“Hey!” shouted Made. “Get away from her!”

 

Seeing them, the firebender laughed.

 

“Hey, Miron, look at these two coming and looking ready to fight!” he said. “Who are you to fight _us_? We’ve been to the war!”

 

“We’re the ones who’re going to take you right back to jail, for treachery and for attacking members of the public,” said Meelon. “Why don’t you stand down and make this easier for yourselves?”

 

“So brave, Nuru, so brave,” said the swordsman, a feral grin on his face. “Let’s get ‘em!” The pair left the woman behind, and rushed forward wildly.

 

At the same time, Honru and Azumi had reached Bao, who was yelling and raging, throwing fire in every direction.

 

“How dare you dishonour our soldiers by _dancing!?_ ” Bao shouted, throwing a particularly large blast at the feet of the man who’d announced the festival. The poor man tried to jump backwards, but fell over, landing in the dust.

 

“You’re sure you’re ready for this, Honru?” asked Azumi quietly. “I mean, I don’t like you, but this is your uncle.”

 

“I’ve hated this guy since I was a kid,” said Honru. “I thought I had to listen to him because he was strong, but Lord Zuko is stronger. I’m not letting my uncle tell me what to do any more.”

 

“Good,” said Azumi, and the two walked forwards.

 

“Hey, Uncle!” called Honru.

 

“It’s my own nephew!” called Bao. “I’m surprised to see you here. I thought you’d have run away by now.”

 

“Don’t do this, Uncle,” said Honru. “You’re not the strongest any more!”

 

“Who’s gonna stop me, Honru?” said Bao. “You? And little Azumi? I was a Lieutenant before that fake Fire Lord took everything from me.”

 

“Fire Lord Zuko is a stronger man than you’ll ever be,” said Honru.

 

“You’ve betrayed me for him!?” said Bao. “Then DIE!” And with that, he cut loose.

 

On the stage, Ruon was blocking Zuko’s first attacks easily, the fire bouncing off his forearms like it was nothing, even firing back with his own attacks.

 

“Is this all you’ve got?” he taunted, as the pair circled. “You really are pathetic!”

 

“You want more? Then I’ll give you more!” shouted Zuko. He span around, creating a swirl of fire with his legs, which shot in every direction, setting fire to parts of the stage. Ruon blocked, but Zuko pressed forward, fury raging. He pushed Ruon back, off the side of the stage, and towards the corner of the square.

 

Made and Meelon had both hastily dodged the initial attacks, and now they were on the defensive. Meelon was fighting off the firebender, Nuru, on one side, and Made clashing blades with the swordsman, Miron, on the other. They were fairly evenly matched with their opponents, and had managed to draw them away from the injured woman, but Made was being slowly pushed back by the more experienced swordsman’s wild blows, and Meelon was barely getting the chance to retaliate between blocking furious attacks. Nuru was laughing wildly as he rained fire from his hands and feet, clearly enjoying the chance to inflict pain. And as the fight went on, Made was getting tired.

 

Honru and Azumi had both been pushed back by Bao’s initial onslaught, and were struggling to block the sheer number of flames he was sending their way. Thinking quickly, Azumi moved around to the right, away from Honru. This forced Bao to pick one of them to focus the flames on, and in his anger, he picked his nephew, doubling down on his attacks. Honru barely managed to keep up, and started to be pushed back by the flames. Meanwhile, Azumi headed around Bao’s side.

 

Niyi and Sozon, meanwhile, were doing their best to keep the crowd calm and out of the way.

 

“Everybody stay back!” shouted Sozon.

 

“They ruined our dance party!” a woman cried angrily, stepping forward. “My sister’s over there!” Sozon hurried in front of her, just managing to block a stray fireball that had come from the direction of the stage.

 

“These men are dangerous traitors!” said Niyi. “The law enforcement is dealing with them! Please stay back for your own safety!”

 

“Only one of you’s even wearing the guard uniform!” shouted the woman.

 

“Here’s our authority paper!” said Niyi, waving a parchment Meelon had given her in the woman’s face. “We’re deputised guards for this emergency! Now, please, get out of here and come back when it gets quieter!” The woman peered at the parchment carefully.

 

“Fine!” she said. “But my sister better be ok!” She stormed off in the other direction.

 

“Hey, over there!” said Sozon. “There’s a woman on the ground near Made and that guard guy!”

 

“Captain Meelon,” said Niyi. “Uh… You cover us, and I’ll try to drag her away!”

 

“Right,” said Sozon. “Right. We’ve got this. I’ll cover us, and you’ll drag her away. We’ve got this. Right.” Hesitantly, he looked towards the injured woman.

 

“Come on,” said Niyi, shaking, but pushing him forward. “We can do this.”

 

Zuko had Ruon pushed into a corner, but the other man hadn’t given up yet. The stubborn hippo-cow was still blocking his every blow, and ducking out of the way of his swords, forcing Zuko to adapt to avoid striking the edges of the blades on the stone. They circled around, taking turns with their back to the wall.

 

“Your father,” taunted Ruon as he blocked and ducked, “was a better Fire Lord than you’ll ever be!”

 

“My father burned his own son’s face off!” shouted Zuko, and unleashed a new flurry of attacks.

 

As the fight pressed on, Made was getting more and more tired. Each blow from Miron was pushing him back more and more, and taking more and more out of him. Next to him, Meelon was still engaged with Nuru, holding his own but unable to come and help. Crumbling under the rain of blows, he didn’t realise that he was once more heading in the direction of the injured woman.

 

Niyi and Sozon hurried across the square as fast as they could, Sozon blocking stray fireballs as they went. As they reached the woman, Niyi saw that Made was backing towards them.

 

“Hurry, Sozon!” she said. “Help me lift her!” She grabbed the woman’s arms, while Sozon grabbed her legs, and the two of them carried her away towards the edge of the square, just in time to avoid Made backing through the spot where they’d been.

 

“I think Made’s in trouble,” said Sozon. “I’m going to help.”

 

“Be careful,” said Niyi.

 

Meanwhile Azumi had circled around to Bao’s flank, and rained down her own furious attack.

 

“That’s for making me run laps!” she cried, as the attack struck Bao unprepared. He roared in pain, and spun round to face her.

 

“Why… you...” he growled. But his back was now exposed to Honru.

 

Miron had pushed Made back even more, and finally, exhausted, Made dropped to his knees.

 

“It’s the end for you, boy!” the criminal cackled, raising his swords to strike a final blow.

 

“Hey!” shouted Sozon, and shot a blast of fire right at the man’s face. He wheeled his swords around, blocking, giving Made the opportunity to stand up and disarm him.

 

“You’re done,” said Made, breathing heavily, putting his swords against Miron’s throat. “Sozon, the cuffs.”

 

“Oh, yeah,” said Sozon.

 

“That’s what you think!” said Miron. “Hey! Nuru! A little help!” Nuru jumped over, away from Meelon, and started to rain down fire from above their heads.

 

“Ahh!” said Sozon, hastily putting his arms up to try and block it. Meelon jumped over too, attempting to shield the two boys with his own block. But the attack never came.

 

Instead, a rock flew suddenly from the edge of the square, striking Nuru directly in the temple and knocking him out.

 

“That’s my friends you’re attacking!” shouted a familiar voice.

 

“Tian!” shouted Sozon, relieved, as Meelon quickly moved to cuff the fallen firebender. “Where’ve you been?”

 

“I was dancing, then I ran away, but then I remembered you were all here, so I came back to check on you!” she said. “What are you all doing, fighting these guys?!”

 

Over in the corner, Ruon was still dodging and blocking, but he was tiring under Zuko’s fury. Slower and slower he blocked, until finally, with one almighty blow, Zuko pushed the man to the ground. As Ruon struggled to get up, his nose in the dust, Zuko quickly pinned his swords either side of the man’s neck.

 

“I was just going to send you all to prison for life,” said Zuko, cuffing the fallen ringleader. “But now, I won’t go so easy on you.”

 

“I hate you,” said Ruon.

 

Azumi and Honru had also wrapped up their fight. Azumi’s tactic had worked, and Honru had gone for his uncle’s exposed back with every bit of anger he’d earned in his seventeen years. The former teacher’s skin was now emblazoned with a searing burn, and he’d fallen to his knees, finally defeated. Honru had taken great pleasure in standing on his burned back while he cuffed him.

  
“You don’t need to do that,” said Azumi, grimacing as she watched him.

 

“I want to,” said Honru. “Who’s stronger now, Uncle? Who’s stronger now?”

 

“You only won because a girl helped you,” said Bao.

 

“Yeah, a STRONG girl!” said Honru. Azumi facepalmed.

 

“I can’t believe this is who beat us...” said Miron, still hemmed in by Made’s blades.

 

“Sozon...” said Made.

  
“Oh, sorry,” said Sozon. He took the set of cuffs he’d been given, and clumsily managed to put them around Miron’s wrists.

 

“Is that everyone?” said Zuko, dragging his own prisoner over to near the others.

 

“It is, sir,” said Meelon.

 

“Wait, sir?” said Tian. “Lee’s not a sir, is he? And why was everyone fighting instead of running away?” Everyone looked at Zuko.

 

“Fine,” he said. “Tian, you deserve to know, since everyone else here does. I’m the Fire Lord.”

 

“You’re WHAT!?” said Tian, laughing. “No way. The Fire Lord wears a crown and stuff. You’re such a joker, Lee.” Zuko facepalmed.

 

“It’s true, Tian,” said Meelon. “This is Fire Lord Zuko. I’m his personal guard. Do you have the crown, sir?”

 

“Actually, I did bring it today,” said Zuko, digging in a pouch, and checking nobody else was watching. “My crown and signet ring,” he said, presenting them to her.

 

“Woah...” said Tian. She tentatively poked the crown. “It’s really you!” Her mouth gaped open. “Agni, Lee’s the Fire Lord…”

  
“He is,” said Niyi. “He’s in disguise.” Zuko put the ring and crown away, before someone could see them.

 

“Yeah, so don’t tell anyone it’s me,” said Zuko, staring at her.

 

“I am so sorry for saying you were joking,” said Tian. “I won’t tell anyone, I promise!”

 

“Good,” said Zuko. “Now, let’s get these people back to the prison. And, uh, somebody tell everyone they can restart the dance party.”

 

“I’ll do it, sir,” said Meelon. “People of the Fire Nation!” he shouted. “The dangerous criminals have now been arrested, and are being taken to prison! It’s safe to begin dancing again!”

 

“But we don’t have any instruments!” shouted one of the musicians. “Those guys burned them all!”

 

“Yeah!” shouted someone else. “And the square’s full of burning rubble!”

 

“I know where you can get instruments!” someone shouted. It was Kaizo, the music teacher from the school. “Come to the Eastern Fire Academy and we’ll continue the party there!”

 

“You heard the man!” shouted Zuko. “Go dance at the Eastern Fire Academy! That’s an order!”

 

“An order?” someone else shouted. “Can he do that?”

 

“Oops,” Zuko said quietly. “Tell them I’m your boss from the capital.”

 

“He’s my boss from the capital!” shouted Meelon. “You heard him, go to the Eastern Fire Academy! We’re Fire Nation! Don’t give up the party just because of these lot!” The crowd cheered, and started trickling away.

 

“Right,” said Zuko. “To the guard station.” He started walking, and the others followed.

 

“But why _were_ you all fighting those guys?” asked Tian as they walked away. “Where were the other guards?”

 

“Niyi, you tell her,” said Zuko.

 

“It went like this...” Niyi began.

 

-

 

When they arrived at the guard station, the door guard went pale at the sight of Zuko and his friends.

 

“M-my lord...” he stuttered. “We’re so sorry for letting them escape!”

 

“Just let us in,” said Zuko, breathing out a puff of steam. The guard stepped aside, shaking.

 

Inside, Captain Min Zu was waiting. “M-Lee!” she shouted, spotting his friends.

 

“They already know I’m the Fire Lord, Captain,” said Zuko. The captain nodded.

 

“We were just about to send for you, Fire Lord Zuko,” she said. “We got back from prisoner transport to find the guards we left were all knocked out, and all the remaining prisoners had escaped except for Mrs Fu. But I see you’ve already captured them all, my lord?”

 

“They attacked the dancing festival that was organised in town,” said Zuko. “Except Honru, after they let him out he came to warn me. I know it’s already late, but please take the four of them straight to the transport. I don’t want them to escape again.”

 

“Of course, my lord,” agreed the captain. “We’ll do it right after you leave.”

 

“Good,” said Zuko, throwing Ruon in the nearest cell. Some of the guards came to take the other bound prisoners out of his friends’ hands. Zuko turned to Honru.

 

“Honru,” he said. “It’s good that you came to warn me, so I won’t punish you for escaping. But there’s still a week left of your original sentence.”

 

“I understand, my lord,” said Honru. “You’ve got to show that you’re strong, so you can’t let me off easy.”

 

“That’s, uh… that’ll do,” said Zuko. “Captain, put him back in a cell.”

 

“Right away, my lord,” she said, and did so. Honru waved at him through the bars.

 

“Right, I think that’s everything… wait, I forgot,” Zuko said. “Captain, Honru claimed that two of the guards who you left behind let the prisoners out of their cells. So lock them up before they wake up. They all need questioning.”

  
“Understood, sir,” said Min Zu.

 

“That’s everything,” said Zuko, and turned to leave.

 

-

 

After they’d left, he invited the group of friends back to his house for dinner, and, since it was late, to stay overnight. They all accepted, of course. He was the Fire Lord. He walked them around town so they could each let their parents know where they’d be, and then he led them to the house.

 

“M-Lee!” exclaimed Ruji, opening the door. “I wasn’t expecting so many guests...”

 

“They know who I am, Ruji,” said Zuko. “Can you make us all dinner?”

 

“Of course, my lord,” said Ruji. “Right away.” She hurried off.

 

“Come in, everyone,” said Zuko. “You can wait at the table for now. I need to do a couple of things. Meelon, look after them.”

 

“Sir,” said Meelon. Knowing his friends would be in good hands, Zuko headed upstairs. First, he changed into an outfit more appropriate to his station, and secured the crown in his hair. Then, he sent a letter to Mai, explaining what had happened, and saying that he’d begin his return journey tomorrow. After that, he went back downstairs.

 

As soon as he appeared, his friends, who had been sitting around, stood up and then bowed to the floor.

 

“Please rise,” he said. His friends all slowly got back up.

 

“You’re really the Fire Lord,” said Tian. “Really, with the crown and the robes and everything...”

 

“That’s me,” said Zuko, “hi.”

 

“Wow...” said Azumi. “You look even better in the Fire Lord robes than normal! I mean, I guess this is normal for you. I mean, for you, Mr Fire Lord Zuko, sir. My lord. Uhm, I mean –” Zuko stuck his hand out to cut her off.

 

“Uh, thanks, Azumi,” he said. “Um, everyone please sit…?” They all sat, and Zuko followed them, then continued. “Um, you probably have a lot of questions. So, what do you want to ask?”

 

“Um, Niyi said you came to inspect our school, my lord?” Tian asked. “Did it pass?”

 

“I’m the one who fired all those teachers the other day,” said Zuko. “So, the ones that are still there passed.”

 

“Ooh...” said Tian.

 

“Um… Fire Lord Zuko, sir?” began Sozon, hesitantly. “When you said a dragon would be mad at you, did you mean it literally?”

 

“Yes,” said Zuko.

 

“I thought they were all dead,” said Made. “Sir, I mean.”

 

“My uncle told everyone he killed them so everyone would leave them alone,” said Zuko. “So none of you go telling anyone about them, either.”

 

“Yes, sir!” said Sozon. “Dragons are alive… I can’t believe it...”

 

“What’s going to happen to those men, Fire Lord Zuko, sir?” asked Azumi. “Why were they in prison in the first place?”

 

“They’re responsible for attacking a public event, causing panic, trying to injuring people –”

 

“They succeeded in injuring people, sir!” said Sozon. “Me and Niyi dragged an injured woman out of the way.” Zuko looked at him. Everyone else also looked at him, surprised he’d interrupted the Fire Lord.

 

“Alright, actually injuring people, then. Also, disrespecting my proclamation and escaping prison.” Zuko paused to take a breath. “And, even before that, I already arrested them once for conspiring to put my father back on the throne!”

 

“That’s a lot of crimes, sir,” said Sozon.

 

“Why couldn’t things be easy for once…?” sighed Zuko. “I just wanted a nice, relaxing break, and some ideas for how to change the laws on education. And I got in three fights and had to arrest a bunch of people...”

 

“I hope you get a proper break next time, sir, then,” said Made.

 

“Me, too,” said Zuko.

 

“Dinner is ready, sir!” said Ruji, choosing that moment to stick her head into the room.

 

“Thanks, Ruji,” said Zuko. “Bring it through, please.”

 

“Very good, sir,” said Ruji.

 

“Mmm, dinner,” said Sozon.

 

The rest of the night went pretty well, Zuko thought. During dinner, he got tired of everyone calling him ‘sir’ all the time, and told them to leave out the honorific for the rest of the evening, and, by the time the desserts were done, everyone had loosened up a bit, and even though they kept glancing at him, they were talking with each other like normal, and not waiting for him to say something every time. By the time he went to bed, telling Ruji to show the others to their rooms when they were ready, it felt so relaxed that he almost felt like he was travelling with the Avatar again.

 

The next morning, he said goodbye to everyone, told Sozon and Azumi to teach the new firebending technique to as many people as they could, and reminded them all not to tell everyone they knew that he’d been in town, because he might like to come back in disguise again. Fortunately, they all agreed, though Zuko was a little worried that Tian or Azumi might let something slip.

 

After they’d all gone, he packed everything up, dressed in the same simple clothes he’d worn on the way there, and headed to the guard station to check how the last prisoner transfer had gone.

 

“Fire Lord Zuko!” said Captain Min Zu, once she saw him. “To what do we owe the honour this time?”

 

“How did the prisoner transfer go, Captain?” Zuko asked.

 

“Excellently, sir,” she said. “They’re all safely on their way to the capital, with the same trusted guards that usually do the transfers. Would you like to interview the guards that were knocked unconscious? We have them in the cells.”

  
“Good work,” said Zuko. “And, yes, I would.” He put on his crown, then asked her to lead the way.

 

The interviews confirmed that it was the two guards he’d been warned about who’d let the prisoners out of the cells, and that they’d also been persuaded to conspire with Ruon and the others, so Zuko immediately stripped them of their rank, and asked the guard captain to transfer them to the capital with the other prisoners. He then set the two innocent guards free.

 

“Thank you, sir!” said one of them gratefully. Zuko nodded in acknowledgement, blushing slightly, and then went to talk to Honru.

 

“Thanks for your help yesterday, Honru,” said Zuko.

 

“No problem, sir!” said Honru. “You’re the strongest leader, so helping you was the right thing to do! My uncle was the weak one, sir.”

 

“Right,” said Zuko. Honru’s attitude hadn’t changed, then, only his allegiance. “Remember, don’t tell anyone I was in town,” he said pointedly. “If anyone asks, Lee was just an ordinary student. I want to be able to use the same disguise again.”

 

“Got it, sir!” said Honru.

 

“And Honru,” said Zuko, narrowing his eyes.

 

“Yes, sir?” Honru asked.

 

“If I ever hear about you bullying Niyi or anyone else, I will be back.”

 

“Sir!” said Honru, gulping. “Don’t worry, sir! There’ll be no trouble from me!”

 

“There better not be,” said Zuko. “Goodbye, Honru.” Then he turned around and left.

 

-

 

The journey back to the palace was uneventful, and Zuko mainly spent it talking over his ideas for curriculum reform with Meelon. He’d already changed the worst parts as he went along, but the whole curriculum still needed a rewrite from top to bottom, especially for history, geography, and music. He wanted to include actual dance classes as part of the music classes – and if Aang knew any old Fire Nation dances, it’d be good to include those – and also to increase the variety of songs. Plus, there needed to be some sort of class where firebenders could learn to fight with normal weapons, and where nonbenders could practice using their weapons to defend against firebending. Zuko had a lot of thoughts.

 

The journey took several days, and, by the end of it, Zuko was ready to return to palace life. He fixed his crown back in his hair, and marched up to the palace gate. The guards bowed.

 

“Rise,” he said.

 

“Fire Lord Zuko!” said one. “How was your trip, my lord?”

 

“Good,” said Zuko. He carried on past them, letting Meelon look after the carriage until the servants could unpack his belongings.

  
“Zuko!” shouted Mai, coming out of the palace door. She bowed, and then ran to hug him.

 

“Mai,” said Zuko, smiling.

 

“Did you do what you wanted?” she asked quietly.

 

“Yes,” said Zuko. “I’ll tell you about it later. I definitely need to make some changes.”

 

“Well, now you know,” said Mai. “Let me tell you about what happened here while you were gone...”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm so happy I finished a fic that was this long! I've been wanting a fic about this sort of topic for ages, so I finally wrote my own. Hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. ;)


End file.
